Poor show in LS polls costs Bharani his Delhi posting

Bharani, the State’s special representative in New Delhi, has been shifted to the Karnataka Sericulture Industries Corporation.
Yeddyurappa is said to have sacked Bharani for his poor show in managing the Lok Sabha elections in Chamarajnagar, the latter’s home district. The BJP lost this reserved seat to the Congress.
The CM had warned party members, who were rewarded with plum posts of heads of government-run boards and corporations, that heads would roll if the party performed poorly in their areas.
According to a Government Order issued on May 20, Bharani had been appointed chairman of the corporation. Bharani had quit the Home Department to join the BJP, prior to the assembly elections in 2008.
He unsuccessfully contested from the T Narasipura constituency, Chamarajnagar.
Despite his electoral defeat, Bharani was appointed as the State’s Representative to New Delhi, a Cabinet rank post. In the Lok Sabha polls, Bharani could not get a lead for BJP candidate A R Krishnamurthy, even in T Narasipura. In fact, the BJP candidate trailed by 6,500 votes in the assembly segment.
Bharani said that he was not perturbed by the government’s move. The earlier position was only coordinating between the State government and the Centre at the official level. There was no scope for interaction with the public. “But the new position offers scope for interaction with the public. I can work for sericulturists effectively,” he said.
Dhanajay Kumar is likely to take charge in Bangalore on Friday.
Kumar said that he would try to get clearances for pending projects from the Centre, and bring in additional funds for the State.
He said his experience as four-time MP and union minister for a term would help in delivering his responsibilities effectively. The party had set aside his request for ticket to contest from Dakshina Kannada.