By P.T. Bopanna
Minor irrigation minister N.S. Boseraju who was handpicked by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to become a cabinet minister because of his role in mobilising crowds for Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, is unfit to be Kodagu district in-charge minister.
Though he was neither an MLA nor MLC, Boseraju was inducted into the Cabinet reportedly under instructions from Rahul.
Being the district in-charge minister for Kodagu, Boseraju should have lobbied for setting up an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Kodagu because it has been the demand of the people of Kodagu for several years to sanction a super speciality hospital for the hill district which lacked adequate medical infrastructure.
Instead Boseraju has written to chief minister Siddaramaiah to set up AIIMS at Raichur. Though he is a businessman from Manvi in Raichur district, basically he is from West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. Having been a successful businessman, Boseraju has close links with all Congress leaders, especially Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge.
Boseraju was in charge of Kalyan Karnataka for mobilising crowds for Rahul’s yatra. He mobilised huge crowds for the Raichur rally, which impressed Rahul.
According to political grapevine, Rahul had promised ticket for Boseraju for the Assembly election. Due to political developments, Boseraju could not be offered the ticket. Rahul reportedly summoned Boseraju to Delhi and assured him of a place in the Cabinet. That is how Boseraju landed the berth without being elected.
Congress does not seem to have learnt any lessons from the past and repeating the same mistakes by appointing persons who do not deserve to be in the ministry.
Though people were happy to see the exit of the BJP government which tried to replicate the cow belt Hindutva politics on Karnataka, they have been disillusioned by the Siddaramaiah government which has not been able to fulfil its promises made in the election manifesto.
Instead of giving free power as promised, the government has imposed a fresh levy on the consumers which has affected the budget of middleclass families. The hike works out to 500 to Rs 1,000 a month.
Though the government is expected to practice thrift and mind its finances to meet the huge burden arising out of promises made to the electorate without working out the economics, ministers have been holding meetings at Shangri-La, a luxury hotel, when there are so many conference halls in Vidhana Soudha.
It was shocking to see newspaper photos of a meeting of top officials of the BBMP and BDA being held at the luxury hotel, attended by Gandhi family representative Randeep Singh Surjewala. This is highly objectionable and undermines the powers of Siddaramaiah because there cannot be two centres of power.
Within a month of assuming power, the Siddaramaiah government has become very unpopular with people for its inability to keep up the promises made in the election manifesto and trying to wriggle out of the situation created by political duplicity.
