BSY distances himself from DVS, literally

B S Yeddyurappa, who reportedly snubbed Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda when the latter called upon him to extend an invitation for an event in Shimoga, continued to be curt with Gowda during the event on Saturday.

The former chief minister surprised everyone by arriving at the Karnataka Slum Development Board event to distribute possession certificates to slum-dwellers, even though he came in 20 minutes late.

But as he climbed up the dais, he refused to acknowledge Gowda’s presence even as the chief minister tried to greet him and sat at a distance though the seat next to Gowda was empty.

According to sources, Yeddyurappa was reluctant to attend the programme as it was organised by his political rival State BJP president K S Eshwarappa.

During the programme, Gowda got up from his seat and sat next to Yeddyurappa for a few minutes and posed for the cameras. But there was no exchange of any pleasantries between the two leaders.

While Gowda left the event before his predecessor’s address, Yeddyurappa did not mention Gowda’s name in his speech.

However, he offered an unsolicited explanation for not sitting next to Sadananda Gowda. “I am just a common legislator and the seats next to the chief minister were occupied by Shimoga MP and party State president,” Yeddyurappa said and snidely remarked that the media should not make an issue out of this and must rethink its priorities.

Defending his loyalists who were caught watching porn in the Assembly, Yeddyurappa said: “Some of them may have accidentally watched it. But that does not mean all MLAs do the same. They are also human beings and just because they watched it for a few minutes, how can you telecast it for weeks? Don’t you also watch such films at home?”