BENGALURU: Grama Vastavya, the village stay programme of the Chief Minister to connect with the people, is turning political. While the BJP dismissed it off as a political gimmick, now it wants to know why the CM is visiting only coalition strongholds.
Though the initiative is laudable, visiting backward villages and staying there to get a real response from ground zero, the CM’s choice of villages is what is making the opposition BJP see red.
Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy started his Grama Vastavya amidst much hype a few days ago from Chandarki in Gurmitkal which is a JDS stronghold represented by party MLA Nagangouda Kandakur. On Wednesday, his second Grama Vastavya, was in Karigudda in Raichur district, where again the assembly seat is held by JDS MLA Raja Venkatappa Ambanna Nayak.
Is this a Grama Vastavya or a party affair? wondered BJP general secretary Ravi Kumar. On Thursday, the CM stayed in Ujalamba village in Basavakalyan in Bidar district, which is a Congress seat and opposition leaders want to know if this is an effort to ignore the BJP. The first three village stays were held in north Karnataka, which is good because they are the most backward parts of the state, but the fact that they were all hand-picked seats of the coalition is not acceptable, said the BJP.
Senior BJP leader C T Ravi said, “Kumaraswamy is a second generation leader, the first was H D Deve Gowda who was both CM and PM. Even after so many years if Kumaraswamy does not still understand the problems faced by villages, and still says he needs to go to a village, it is a sad commentary on the DJS and the state as well.’’
Harish Bijoor, political analyst, said, “The CM is probably prioritizing the route to the market, and market is the voter. He is going to his pocket boroughs first and eventually he could go beyond it. The idea is to connect with the masses that creates the correct optics and the correct word of mouth.’’