Karnataka Ministry To Go To People For A Facelift

In a bid to boost the sagging image of his government, the Karnataka chief minister, J.H. Patel, is set to put his jumbo ministry on wheels. Patel will hold Cabinet meetings in divisional headquarters of the state in order to reach out to the masses.

On the first leg of his government-on-wheel abhiyan, the chief minister will hit the lingayat heartland of north Karnataka. Preceding it will be a tour of the belt, considered Lokshakti leader R.K.Hegdes bastion, by the chief minister, several ministers and Dal legislators of the area. State party chief and Deve Gowda`s confidant, B.L.Shankar, will join Patel in his five-day abhiyan which will culminate with a Cabinet meeting in Hubli on September 20.

Holding Cabinet meetings outside Bangalore is not new to the state. The late chief minister, R.Gundurao, used to hold his Cabinet meetings in different district headquarters in the early Eighties. Patel and other Dal leaders had then ridiculed the move as a gimmick.

For us the time has come to go back to the people as the ruling party has lost contact with the masses with the top leaders quarrelling and the administration suffering from lack of direction, confessed a senior leader of the party. This urgency stems from the fact that Lokshakti and the Congress have virtually joined hands in the state and bypolls to two Assembly seats are just round the corner. Moreover, after a lapse of several years, elections to fill up 25 seats in the upperhouse of the legislature from local body constituencies will be held in October, said a senior minister. It is sheer compulsion rather than anything else which is forcing us to build bridges with the masses, he confessed.

However, the discontent within the ministry continues to simmer. The deputy chief minister, Siddaramaiah, and few other leaders will tour parts of north Karnataka separately. Siddaramaiah has openly identified himself with the Backwards group led by the Union textile minister, R.L.Jalappa, and the HRD minister, S.R.Bommai. The Patel group is still in the shadows of the former Prime Minister, M. Deve Gowda.

One of the Assembly bypoll will be for the Hubli rural seat which is held by the Congress. Now, under the new arrangement, the Congress may give up its claim in favour of Lokshakti, according to Dr Alva, the state unit president. Even if the Congress decides to contest, Lokshakti may withdraw from the seat in lieu of Congress support for its nominee in the Bangalore rural district constituency, Anekal. Thus, the ruling party will find the going tough, confesses the party general secretary, Srinivas. However, he believes with Patel taking the initiative, things will tilt in Dals favour.