Bharataiya Janata Party leader and Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa took oath yesterday as the 23rd CM of Karnataka. CM Yeddyurappa spent a busy day at his office after taking oath as a number of important decisions came out of his office. Congress was left flustered after seeing Yeddyurappa set on the path of making his pre-poll promises a ground reality, while they are still busy trying to force a way to form government in Karnataka.
According to a recently published article on Economic Times, the Congress leadership is planning to move the Supreme Court with a strategy to declare CM Yeddyurappa as a caretaker CM. Congress’s demand is that the SC should declare Yeddyurappa as a caretaker CM until he passes the majority floor test. Congress leaders were left dumbstruck when Yeddyurappa announced farm loan waivers for one lakh farmers in Karnataka. Agriculture is one of the largest contributors towards the Karnataka economy; it also employs a large amount of workforce from the state. BJP’s manifesto released prior to the elections featured loan waivers prominently as one of the key promises. Congress seems to be in a fix as it cannot challenge this move made by Yeddyurappa, fearing backlash from the people of Karnataka. Irrespective of political alignment all the farmers will openly back this move made by the new Chief Minister of Karnataka.
Yeddyurappa also took the decision to appoint and transfer top officials in the state. M Lakshminarayana, the additional Chief Secretary in the public works department was appointed as the additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister by Yeddyurappa. It was notified by his office that the position of additional Chief Secretary will be similar to that of the Additional Chief Secretary in the Home Department. Senior IPS officer Amar Kumar Pandey, who was serving as the Additional Director General of Police in Railways has now been made Additional Director General of Police in the Intelligence department. DIG of the Karnataka State Reserve Police Sandeep Patil has been appointed as the new DIG, Intelligence. SP Bidar was transferred to Bengaluru Central Division as DC Police, whereas SP in anti-corruption bureau, S Girish has been appointed as DCP of Bengaluru North-East Division.
These important transfers combined with the decision of Yeddyurappa to withdraw security provided at the Eagleton resort has shaken the roots of Congress leaders in the state. Yeddyurappa’s decision to remove security from the Eagleton resort in Bengaluru cannot be challenged as there is no visible threat to the lives of the JDS and Congress MLAs who have been kept there forcibly by their respective parties. There is no need to waste resources on the security of MLAs who have gathered on their own free will. Congress had previously used Eagleton resorts to hold 42 Congress MLAs from Gujarat as well. The security provided to them by the then Congress government in Karnataka was a waste of public money and a mistake which Yeddyurappa does not want to repeat. Far from being a politically motivated decision, it is actually a logical move to stop the misuse of public funds and taxpayers’ money.
Congress seems to have been taken by surprise following the rapid changes being brought in by Yeddyurappa. Congress’s decision to approach the Supreme Court seeking to put the stamp of caretaker CM on Yeddyurappa’s post is nothing but a desperate attempt to negate the positive impact of the swift decisions made by the new Chief Minister.