JOIN USBJP to call off Operation Lotus
All set to announce a slew of welfare schemes for the economically marginalised, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa declared there was no need for his party to continue with Operation Lotus. For him, it had bloomed with some help from the Congress and the JD(S) which were in no position to unseat the BJP politically.
Lesson learnt
After a year in office, marked by rhetorical stunts to remake reality and few regrets (though he did admit that the Haveri firing was a lesson for his government), Yeddyurappa declared he would now like to give the much-needed impetus to administration. To that end, he would hold frequent review meetings so that government moved at a faster and efficient pace.
Interacting with newspersons, the chief minister said he did not favour a confrontationist policy with the UPA government at the Centre. In fact, he said, he would much rather prefer the Centre to be benevolent while working out stimulus packages for states faced with economic hardships as a result of the general slowdown.
With cameras rolling behind him – an exercise in public relations – Yeddyurappa busied himself through the day, holding official meetings and briefings. The first beneficiaries on the eve of the BJP government’s second year in office would be the City’s slum-dwellers.
On Saturday, the BMTC launched a new service – Atal Sarige – which the poor can travel at concessional rates. Yeddyurappa inaugurated an exhibition, which will continue till Sunday, at the National College grounds at Basavanagudi where various departments and corporations/boards put up stalls to showcase their achievements for the year gone by. The senior babus of the departments were present on the occasion.
The chief minister mingled with the bureaucrats, congratulating them on meeting their respective targets. While the City’s civic agencies and the energy department put their best foot forward, it was the Karnataka Sericulture Industries Corporation which stole the show: silk sarees sold between Rs 5,000 and Rs 1.76 lakh.
Sunday promises to be the climactic day for the BJP government’s mega show. The programme, titled “Vikasa Sankalpa Utsava”, would be inaugurated at 11 am. Transport Minister R Ashok and his colleague Katta Subramanya Naidu have made arrangements to bring in at least 25,000 people to the venue. The BBMP has left standing orders for all its employees to attend the programme without fail. Amidst all the hoopla, the chief minister has not left out the Opposition from participating in the government’s programmes.
Sources said that Yeddyurappa would visit the residence of Krishna, Moily, and Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday morning to congratulate them on becoming ministers at the Centre.