Happy with support Congress got from Bengaluru: Rural development minister Krishna Byregowda
BENGALURU: Karnataka’s minister for Rural development, Krishna Byregowda, is passionate about reliable water supply for villages across the state. The minister — one of the very few from Siddaramaiah’s former cabinet to be inducted into the current coalition’s cabinet — has done away with packaged bottles and paper/plastic cups in his office at Vikasa Soudha, a push for more sustainable means. In an interview with The New Indian Express, Krishna Byregowda, speaks about the roadmap ahead for his ministry, what the coalition means for his party, and why he believes that the regional imbalance in the cabinet won’t affect the performance of the government. Excerpts of the interview follow.
Does working in a coalition government restrict your freedom as a minister?
I don’t deny that working in a coalition requires us to amend the way we approach things, but when people throw up a fractured mandate, what option do we have, but to learn to work with it. Yes, it requires some adjustments from us as individual ministers as well as parties working with each other. We are learning more than the usual with this experience. We are putting in mechanisms to ensure smooth functioning in the form of a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) and a coordination committee. We also have senior and sensible leaders capable enough to work out ways and means and terms of this engagement. We have to respect the people’s mandate and try to work with it whether it is fractured or single. The other option is to go for elections and that doesn’t benefit anybody.
Do you anticipate the farm loan waiver to negatively affect your ministry?
While we will try our best to protect the interest of our ministry, everybody will have to make adjustments. We have to prioritise but this is a ministry where making cuts would affect a large number of people. You can’t pass on cuts in rural roads, rural water or irrigation or agriculture without affecting a sizeable number of people. Adjustments by everybody is required to strike a balance. Our party has taken a stand that previous government’s programmes and announcements should be protected. I haven’t proposed any new programmes since H K Patil (Minister for Rural development in Siddaramaiah cabinet) took up a lot of new initiatives and even piloted some like the RO water plants installation in villages. He also piloted universal drinking water project in Gadag, so every village gets assured drinking water. We will expand what has been tried instead of coming up with new schemes. It will be a big achievement to implement this across the state.
How do you respond to criticism of this cabinet being South-Karnataka heavy?
The cabinet is not fully formed yet and you will have to wait to come to such conclusions. Majority of JD(S) legislators are from the southern districts and the majority of North Karnataka legislators are with the BJP. We have tried to strike a balance and more of it will be seen in cabinet expansion. Just because I am from the south, it doesn’t mean I have any less affinity for North Karnataka. I spent most of my time, energy and resources as the agriculture minister in the North part of Karnataka. We are not as parochial as to carry our origins to our work. Our work will not reflect the imbalanced mandate given by the people.
What are your focus areas and vision for your ministry?
Rural development and panchayat raj have a vast mandate including institutions, rural
sanitation, livelihood, decentralisation, roads, water, village infrastructure and registration of property. After initial discussions with our officials, we have listed out two primary focus areas — providing reliable water supply to greater part of the village and ensuring decent rural connectivity and roads. We will look to consolidate policy decisions made by the previous minister H K Patil and build on most of them but focus on operational issues.
Despite civic and infrastructure issues, Congress fared better in Bengaluru. What worked for you?
We were disappointed with the performance in Hassan, Mandya Mysuru belt, but are very happy with the support we got from Bengaluru. It is good to see our tally improve in Bengaluru and it shows that some amount of work has taken place despite the hue and cry over civic issues. Initiatives like Metro, suburban rail, TenderSure roads were undertaken by the previous government and have received the support of the people.
How did you deal with the dissent within Congress over cabinet selection?
There are seniors who are deserving but there is a cap on the numbers and party had to make hard choices. When such choices are made, people are left upset. Becoming a minister is a strong aspiration but people will be upset every time we make a decision. We are trying to reach out to them and reason with them that when hard decisions are taken, it is not a personal statement but a choice of representation, balance, making amends for the past and give others an opportunity. It is a challenging situation, but we are all responsible people and the party will manage it with the formulae at hand.
Who will benefit more from the coalition in the run-up to 2019 Lok Sabha polls?
There are always costs and benefits associated with each decision. We are required to think of the larger interests involved and arrive at decisions which are of greater benefit and lesser costs. We are political entities, not charitable organisations and there are bound to be competitions, but we will try to arrive at a solution that is more beneficial to both parties. We will have to make sacrifices and expect JD(S) to make sacrifices proportionally too.