Janaspandana: Somasekhar praises DKS as Munirathna frowns

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: An air of awkwardness prevailed as Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar held a ‘Janaspandana’ or ‘Government at Your Doorstep’ at the Jnanabharathi campus in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Shivakumar had been addressing grievances from voters from two constituencies currently represented by BJP MLAs who had defected from the Congress to the BJP in the infamous ‘Operation Kamala’ of 2019 that brought the saffron party to power.

Yeshwantpur MLA ST Somashekhar, Rajarajeshwari Nagar MLA Munirathna shared the stage with Shivakumar.

While Somashekhar praised Shivakumar to the skies and drew applause, Munirathna asked the crowd to not glorify any one individual since it was a government event.

Someshekhar has long been rumoured to rejoin Congress and contest from the Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency. Bengaluru Rural MP DK Suresh was also present on the occasion.

“I would like to congratulate the Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar as he has come among us and tried to solve the problems of the people of Yeshwantpur constituency. For this, I hope mother Chamundi (a deity revered in Old Mysuru region) blesses him with longevity, health and good fortune,” Somashekhar said.

However, Munirathna sought to undercut a section of the crowd that had been shouting pro-Shivakumar slogans.

“This is not a programme where it is appropriate to shout ‘zindabad’ (long live) slogans. I’m saying this to everyone. This is a government programme meant to address people’s problems.,” Munirathna said.

Fly-overs alongside Metro: Dy CM

On the occasion, Shivakumar announced that the State government was considering building flyovers along certain stretches of metro lines to decongest Bengaluru city.

“It has been decided to build flyovers on certain stretches of metro lines to decongest the traffic. A proposal has been sent to the Centre regarding this,” Shivakumar said.

“The Chief Minister announced many projects in the Budget to develop Bengaluru. The BBMP (Bruhta Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) Budget will be presented soon and it will complement the projects announced in the State budget.

We are preparing a feasibility report for tunnel roads near Yeshwanthpur, Sumanahalli, Goraguntepalya, etc,” he added.

‘RR Nagar, Yeshwanthpura like my eyes’

The Deputy CM also likened RR Nagar and Yeshwantpur to his eyes. “MLA ST Somashekar had requested a solution for drinking water in 110 villages around Bengaluru city and we have developed a plan for that.

MLA Muniratna had raised the issue of increasing depths of borewells and I will have a discussion with BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) officials on the same. Bengaluru city will get an additional 6.5 TMC of water and it will reach the beneficiaries by May,” Shivakumar said.

“My brother DK Suresh is working closely with the constituency. He is addressing micro issues of locality. He is responsible for my huge victory of 1.23 lakh votes in Kanakapura. The elections are approaching and you have to support the people who are working for you and not someone who is busy advertising,” he added.