BENGALURU: On Monday, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa will finish one month in office, and it has been a busy one for the 76-year-old BJP strongman. Without a cabinet of ministers to assist him, the Chief Minister spent a large part of the past 30 days dealing with multiple crises, on the political and governance fronts.
Yediyurappa took oath at a time when most parts of the state were hit by drought. He immediately held marathon meetings with officials to take stock of the situation and to monitor drought relief works. But within a few weeks of these meetings, the situation was reversed. Suddenly, the state was reeling under floods in several districts. Heavy rains coupled with water released by Maharashtra brought life in several districts to a standstill.
The CM now found himself dealing with floods in 22 out of 30 districts. With floods disrupting transport and inundating several areas, Yediyurappa and his administration were put to the test. At this time, he was the sole member of the cabinet and had yet to induct any ministers.
While in Delhi, to meet party leader Amit Shah, Prime Minister Modi and others to seek funds for Karnataka and to finalise the names for his cabinet, Yediyurappa had to cut short his trip and rush back to undertake an aerial survey of the flood-hit districts. He even stayed in North Karnataka for four days.
During this time, he also stoked controversy with a statement that villages would be renamed after a company or an organisation if they came forward to donate Rs. 10 crore and above.
Later he had to clarify that he had meant only that a layout in the village would be renamed and not the entire village, as several villagers took issue with the idea of their villages being named after donor companies or individuals.
After his second visit to New Delhi on August 16, where he met the Prime Minister as well as other senior ministers, he returned to form his cabinet and as many as 17 ministers were inducted. At the same time, he also had to deal with the rebel MLAs, who played an instrumental role in the previous government being overthrown.
On August 22, he again went to Delhi, this time to finalise portfolios taking the total number of days spent in the national capital so far to seven. On Sunday, he will visit New Delhi for the fourth time. This time, however, it will be a condolence call to pay his last respects to senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
“The list (of portfolios) is ready. There is no confusion,” he told reporters on Saturday.
However, a last-minute meeting to discuss portfolio allocation, before he returns in the evening, is very likely.
In contrast, his predecessor, HD Kumaraswamy, spent most of his first month in office as well as visiting temples across the state.