Gowda — who is viewed by many as the “puppet” of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa who resigned under a cloud after he was forced to fight a host of cases of corruption — seems to have decided to impart some amount of transparency to the office of the chief minister in a bid to clean up the smudged image of the party.
On Sunday, he announced that cameras will be installed inside his office and his official residence in order to enable public to see him functioning in a transparent manner. Addressing the gathering at an event organised by Dakshina Kannada Gowda Kshremabhivrudhi Sangha here, Gowda said five closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras would be installed in his Vidhana Soudha office and in two chambers at his official residence, Krishna.

“Citizens of Karnataka can watch me live, using YouTube and other Karnataka government websites. Sitting in their homes, people can have a clear picture of whom I meet and can also study my body language,” said Gowda. The facility enabling citizens to see their chief minister live online will be launched on November 30.

The step may set an example for other ministers and officials to follow suit, said Gowda.

He said his effort to streamline the procedure of clearing government files is gaining momentum and that he is all set to table the Right to Service Act in the coming Assembly session which will begin in the first week of December. Introducing the Act will bring accountability among the officials to clear files on time, he added.

The chief minister said he did not celebrate Deepavali this year as he was busy working on the relief measures to the farmers of 99 drought-hit taluks of the State.
He said he was in constant touch with deputy commissioners and chief executive officers of all the districts to monitor the drought situation in the State. The dry spell in 99 taluks had caused a loss of Rs 450 crore and the State government had sought a relief package of Rs 700 crore from the Centre, Gowda said. The Centre is yet to reply to the State memorandum.