Dive and open: Basangouda Patil Yatnal

By Shyam Sundar Vattam/NT

Bengaluru: Recently, Vijayapura City MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal was called for the inauguration of a newly-built swimming pool in the land of scorching sun, Vijayapura.

The organisers thought the MLA would cut the ribbon and inaugurate the swimming pool. But Yatnal surprised everyone by taking out his kurtha and pyjama and dived into the pool in his half-pants. He swam for a few minutes inside the pool and came to one side of the pool to say, “The pool has been inaugurated”.

In the early ‘80s, the then CM and flamboyant R Gundu Rao did the same by diving into a newlybuilt swimming pool in Bengaluru. The next day all newspapers had the picture of Rao in his swimming costume ready to plunge into the pool waters.

Poor CM
People think that top politicians are filthy rich and always carry around bundles of crispy currency notes.

If you too think the same, you are wrong. Chief ministers do not carry money with them when attending functions, but their pockets will be filled during election campaigns.

Two days ago, Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai was attending a puja in connection with the launch of a lift irrigation project in Badami constituency, which is represented by former CM and Congress strongman Siddaramaiah. The ‘mangalarathi’ is performed at the end of puja and devotees put cash or coins in the offering plate. When the mangalarathi was over, Bommai searched the pockets of this kurtha and found nothing. Then he looked at political rival Siddaramaiah who was removing some notes from his purse. Without hesitation, the CM grabbed a few notes from his political mentor and put it into the mangalarathi plate. Siddaramaiah just looked at Bommai and laughed.

Appaji, Appaji
A new word has been added to the vocabulary to address Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah who has already been given many honorary titles by his fans.

The most adorable and much-publicised title of them all is “Huliya”, which became a household name in the North Karnataka region. His fans of South Karnataka too have started calling him Huliya, a fitting nickname in praise of their leader.

The recent one is “Appaji” (that means father in Kannada). During a recent protest rally in Mysuru against price rise, Siddu was ready to address the audience in his typical style, all with the Gandhi cap on his head. Suddenly, a person in the middle of the audience screamed “Appaji” twice, which was enough to grab the attention of the former CM. Right from the podium, Siddu asked him to shut up and sit down or be shown the door.

A local leader told Siddaramaiah that the man was drunk and wouldn’t stop despite several warnings. Without wasting any more time, the Congress leader continued with his speech.