Straws in the mind

Patil stirs Lingayat discontent pot
Home Minister M B Patil, not one to keep silent even in the face of the BJP avalanche, took a dig at the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre for inducting Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi into the cabinet. He claimed that many senior and deserving leaders had been brushed aside just to accommodate Joshi, and that the Lingayats had not been given their due either. Ten Lingayats were elected, but the yield was only one Minister of State, not even Cabinet rank, Patil said, referring to MP Suresh Angadi. Trying to provoke discontent in the BJP ranks of his community, he questioned this “neglect” and tried to expose who the upper castes continue to get prominence in the saffron party, before firing a final salvo. “Minister Angadi, before predicting who will be the next CM of Karnataka, should question why he was given a lesser post than Union Minister Joshi. If I was in his place, I would have rejected the position,” he declared.

Friends, foes and frenemies in netadom
This is the true picture of state politics: BJP’s giant-killer G S Basavaraju, who vanquished JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda, visited Congressman and former MLA K N Rajanna with a shawl, bouquet and fruit basket to express gratitude for his support during the Lok Sabha polls. A thanksgiving of sorts for a deal they had struck, perhaps, with Rajanna helping Basavaraju right up to the finish line. Now here is the backstory -- one of deceit, caste politics and manipulation -- that led to the Tumkur verdict. In 2004, Deve Gowda had given political rebirth to Rajanna who had won on a JDS ticket. Interestingly, Basavaraju, a Lingayat, had managed to snatch the Congress Party MP ticket from Rajanna’s political ‘guru’ Lakkappa, a Vokkaliga, during the eighties and put an end to his political career. Ask Rajanna’s supporters and they take you down memory lane as to why he waged war against both DyCM G Parameshwara and Gowda in the LS polls. In 2004, S M Krishna denied Rajanna the Congress ticket for re-election from the local bodies MLC seat. He contested as an Independent, and Parameshwara ensured V S Ugrappa’s victory. Then too, Rajanna had badmouthed Parameshwara at Madhugiri and chased him away. Ugrappa, an ST Nayaka leader like Rajanna, ditched Parameshwara and followed Siddaramaiah. The grouse against Deve Gowda goes back to the 2008 bypoll, when he fielded daughter-in-law Anitha Kumaraswamy, who defeated Rajanna. Even then, Rajanna had chased H D Kumaraswamy away while he was campaigning for his wife, recall political watchers.

Mujhe pehchante ho? Jadhav at hospital
Kalaburagi MP Dr Umesh Jadhav, a retired medical officer who was with ESIC pre-2013, paid a surprise visit to the ESIC Super Speciality Hospital of Kalaburagi on Sunday evening, along with his MLA-son Dr Avinash Jadhav, also an MBBS graduate. On his rounds of the women’s ward, Jadhav Sr quizzed a patient: “Mujhe pehchante aap? (Do you recognise me)?” The patient’s answer was surprising. “Nahi saab, tumhare peeche itne log aayeto tum bade insaan ho (No sir, but when so many people have come along with you, you might be a big person).” Umesh Jadhav simply smiled to her and told that he was a big doctor, but did not disclose his identity. Neither did he disclose that he was a spin doctor of sorts too. He ended his trip with a direction to ESIC authorities to adopt a humanistic approach to patients, give them the best treatment and not refer them to private hospitals.

Bangarappa’s aide steamrolls ahead
Lackeys and hangers-on generally stay an ingratiating step behind the VIP neta. But here, the MLA’s supporter was one step ahead of him. Throwing protocol to the winds, Sorab BJP MLA Kumar Bangarappa’s “close” aide Bhogesh launched the desilting of the Bangarada Oddu lake at Bedavatti village in Sorab taluk recently. Neither the MLA nor Zilla Panchayat CEO K Shivaramegowda knew of Bhogesh’s plans. But yes, a source did say that Bangarappa was not too comfortable with his supporter’s eagerness, though he had released Rs 4 lakh for the work.