In times of drought, Karnataka minister goes on foreign tour

 Social Welfare Minister A Naraynaswamy is on a foreign tour even as the chief minister has asked his Cabinet colleagues to oversee drought relief works in the State.

Narayanaswamy represents Anekal in the Assembly and he is also the in-charge minister for Chikkaballapur district. Both are worst-affected by drought with groundwater table depleting to alarming levels.

Permission obtained

The minister left Bangalore on Saturday with his wife and three daughters. According sources in his office, Narayanaswamy has planned to stay in Italy for a few days before touring the countries in Europe.

His associates said the minister had obtained permission from the chief minister for the self-financed tour.

He had planned the tour last year, but it did not materialise on account of political developments.

The associates of the minister said his family members had been pressuring him to spend some quality time with them and hence he went on tour after obtaining permission from the chief minister.

Recently, Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda dropped his plans to travel abroad to woo investors for the second edition of the Global Investors Meet scheduled for June this year, in view of the severe drought in the State.