CHITRADURGA: When neighbouring Davanagere and Tumakuru have grown at an enormous pace, why not Chitradurga, questions A Narayanaswamy, also known as Anekal Narayanaswamy. He is now going about setting this anomaly right.
Drawing on his skills acquired as MLA and Social Welfare Minister, Narayanaswamy is busy meeting people, listening to their problems and trying to find a solution. In his very first meeting, he took the officials of Upper Bhadra Project to task and directed them to ensure speedy completion of canal work and release water to fill the tanks of Chitradurga and Tumakuru districts.
His priorities are clear: water, irrigation, education, transportation and setting up an industrial corridor across the district. The good rapport he enjoys with the state and central BJP leadership may help him get good projects to the district.
Narayanaswamy started his career in 1986 as a City Municipal Councillor of Anekal. He won the byelection to the state Assemby in 1997 from the constituency and has held on to his seat until he was defeated by Congress’ B Shivanna in 2013. He was defeated in 2018 again. After a brief political lull, Narayanaswamy has made a comeback in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections by defeating coalition candidate B N Chandrappa by a margin of 80,178 votes.
His main mission has been to bring clean water to the district through the Upper Bhadra Project before 2020. For years and years, fluoride pollution has ruined the groundwater in the district. The chemical causes people’s teeth to discolour. In a way,he is trying to bring the smiles of the people of the district back.
Another task which holds no less importance on his list of priorities is speeding up the works of the Tumakuru-Davanagere railway line. He wants a East-West Railway corridor set up in order to link Visakhapatnam and Krishnapatnam ports with the ports of Karwar, Malpe and Mangaluru. He wants
to make Chitradurga an educational hub. In order to give employment in the district a boost, Swamy wants to ensure that the work on the Industrial Corridor is completed on time. He will also apprise Union ministers of the project’s status.