Catching them young
The State Legislative Assembly is scheduled to go for elections in April-May 2023. Many ticket aspirants and MLAs seeking re-election are already busy, engaging themselves with voters. A couple of leaders, hoping to get a chance to contest as candidates of major political parties, are visiting villages and interacting with people.
Hassan MLA Preetham J. Gowda of BJP recently felicitated nearly 4,000 students who cleared SSLC with a high score. Besides a memento and a bag, each student received a cash prize. Those students who scored above 85% received ₹5,000 and those securing less received ₹3,000 each. The total cash component alone crossed ₹1.6 crore.
Many people viewed the programme of this grand scale as the launch of the MLA’s campaign for the coming election. They pointed out that the MLA was reaching to his voters through students. Of course, the Election Commission of India cannot take this expenditure into account as the elections will be declared only next year.
MLA’s ‘immunity letter’
Is it not a disgrace to a ruling party MLA when his close aide is being “harassed” repeatedly by authorities for owning a vehicle bearing registration number of another State? So thinks MLA of Shirahatti Ramappa Lamani. Deciding to remedy this, he got a “certificate” of sorts to provide immunity to his aide from the “harassment”.
In a letter addressed to “whomsoever it may concern”, he named his aide G. Basavaraj, a resident of Belagatti in Shirahatti taluk, as his acquaintance and a party worker. He mentioned the vehicle’s registration number and said that nobody should seize the vehicle and trouble him.
But real trouble started after the letter went viral on social media leading to severe backlash. Even as the beneficiary claimed that he got the letter from the MLA to prevent repeated harassment by police, the MLA, who realised his folly rather late, contended that he might have signed the letter when there was commotion around him without knowing its contents. He even said that he would sue the “beneficiary” for getting such a letter signed by him. As on date, however, nothing of that sort has happened but the MLA seems to have realised the limitations of his power.
Weighing loyalties
Amidst much talk in the media of “camps” loyal to him and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar within the Congress, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah at a recent press conference said that all party MLAs and leaders were loyal to him. He mentioned names of Priyank Kharge, MLA, who was sitting next to him on the dais, and Dinesh Guligowda, MLC, who too was present. He took a jibe at journalists who are repeatedly writing about his “loyalists.”
Mr. Siddaramaiah went on and asked with a smile, "Are you (journalists) not loyal to me?" When journalists would still not let go and asked if Mr. Shivakumar was loyal to him, Mr. Siddaramaiah did not reply, while the KPCC chief was sitting next to him. A couple of days later, on Friday, both leaders held a much-publicised breakfast meeting and discussed party matters.
Sathish G.T.
Girish Pattanashetti
Nagesh Prabhu
