I-Day: Without ministers, govt asks DCs to hoist flag

For the first time in many years, the national flag will be hoisted in Karnataka this Independence Day by bureaucrats and not ministers as Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is yet to expand his Cabinet.

The government has directed deputy commissioners to hoist the tricolour at the district level instead of district in-charge ministers who are required to do it as per protocol.

“As part of Independence Day celebrations on August 15, the national flag should be hoisted by the deputy commissioners in district centres (except Bengaluru Urban), assistant commissioners at the sub-divisions and tahsildars at the taluk level,” the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), which enforces protocol matters, said in a directive issued on Tuesday.

Authorities have also been directed to keep the Independence Day celebrations simple in view of the prevailing flood situation.

Nineteen days have passed since Yediyurappa was sworn-in as chief minister. Without ministers to whom he can assign responsibilities, Yediyurappa, 76, has been running a ‘one-man’ show, having to deal with the flood situation all by himself.

The Opposition Congress has attacked Yediyurappa over the delay in the expansion of the Cabinet. The party has argued that the state should have had ministers for revenue, agriculture and rural development to deal with the flood and drought effectively.

“This Independence Day the flag hoisting will be done by DCs & not by District Incharge Ministers. So the self-proclaimed “Nationalists” BJP doesn’t seem to think that hoisting our flag on Independence Day is a matter of pride & is their duty as well?” former Congress minister Priyank Kharge, who was in charge of the Kalaburagi district, said in a tweet.

Yediyurappa has said that the Cabinet will be expanded after he holds talks with the BJP central leadership on August 16. In all likelihood, Yediyurappa’s Cabinet will have the stamp of the party’s top leadership.

The Congress has charged that among the reasons for the delay in the Cabinet expansion was a turf war between the BJP and its ideological parent RSS - to be read as Yediyurappa and his bete noire, BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, who is the bridge between the saffron party and the RSS.