75 days in office: H D Kumaraswamy visits 8 districts in Old Mysuru region, 25 temples across South India
BENGALURU: In the last two months, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who has been visiting a lot of temples, seems to be not that interested in visiting various districts, especially in North Karnataka. He has visited at least 25 temples after he became the CM — a few of them outside Karnataka and a few in districts of Old Mysuru region. But, he didn’t visit even a single temple in North Karnataka.H D Deve Gowda and his sons — including Kumaraswamy — are known for their god-fearing nature. Ever since HDK was invited by Governor Vajubhai Vala to form the government on May 19, Kumaraswamy is on his toes visiting various temples, mosques and churches located in Old Mysuru region — Mysuru, Ramanagara, Mandya, Kodagu, Bengaluru and Chikkamagaluru districts. He even visited well-known temples in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
In the last 75 days, on an average, he has visited at least one temple every three days. Not just temples, HDK has also visited religious mutts, including Siddaganga mutt in Tumakuru, Suttur Mutt in Mysuru and Adichunchanagiri Mutt in Bengaluru.On the other hand, he has also visited eight districts out of 30. “Most of the district visits were due to temples. He has visited Chikkamagaluru to offer puja at Sringeri Sharadamba temple and Dakshina Kannada district to visit Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple. Kalabhyraveshwara temple in Nagamangala of Mandya district and various temples in Hassan were part of his visits to fulfil his vows taken before State assembly election. It was more of religious visit than official visit,’’ sources from JD(S) told TNIE.
BJP leader Jagadish Shettar said people from North Karnataka are watching the CM HDK. He did not make any announcement for the region in his budget just because people from here did not vote for JD(S), he said. “It’s not that his visit to North Karnataka will get a makeover in a day or two. When he had time to visit temples, both in and outside Karnataka, why did he not visit any district from the region?,’’ he asked.
AFTER ASHAADA, HDK TO VISIT N-K’TAKA
JD(S) MLC T A Sharavana said the state has seen 25 CMs, of which six are from North Karnataka. “What is their contribution? It is HDK who laid the foundation to Suvarna Soudha at Belagavi, and it is Deve Gowda who got many irrigation projects for North Karnataka. It’s hardly been two months since he took the oath as CM. He was busy with farm loan waiver and budget. At present, he is in discussion with various DCs. It is good to take officials into confidence first. He will start visiting North Karnataka after Ashaada,’’ he added. Despite health issues, Kumaraswamy works 18 hours a day. The opposition should not make such statements,’’ he said.