While IAS officer D.K. Ravi’s life came to an abrupt end, another upright IAS officer, who had taken on Minor Irrigation Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi, quietly left Karnataka about a fortnight ago. Thulasi Maddineni, a 2005-batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer, has had a very tough time after she acted against Mr. Tangadagi on some land issues while she was the Deputy Commissioner of Koppal district (2011-13).
She was “demoted” and posted as CEO of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat in July 2013. CEO posting is usually the first posting for IAS officers after their probation.
While her batchmates were working as Deputy Commissioners and in higher posts, Ms. Maddineni worked as CEO for nearly two years before taking deputation to the Centre as Deputy Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, where civil servants are trained.
It is said, nobody is a permanent foe or friend in politics. The Janata Dal (S) learnt it the bitter way recently in Hubballi. Having had a tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party for coming to power in the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC), JD(S) councillors were anxiously waiting to become the Deputy Mayor for the second term of the municipal council.
So much was the competition among the party that JD(S) councillors split into three groups to stake claim to the Deputy Mayor’s post reserved for general category.
However, the BJP turned out to be too smart for them, for it managed to create a divide among them and postponed meeting the official JD(S) delegation till the day of the election only to declare that they did not need their support, leaving the JD(S) leaders in utter shock. “Jilted” JD(S) leaders were left with no other option but to accuse the BJP of betrayal and stage a protest to register their anger against their ally for the last one year in the municipal council.
Unlike most press enclosures, the media gallery in Mysore City Corporation’s (MCC) Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar auditorium often erupts in applause during council meetings, particularly when deliberations are underway on certain controversial issues.
But it is not the reporters who applaud! While the admission into the Council Hall is reserved only to councillors and officials, a host of other “interested” persons, including minions of councillors and contractors, gather in the media gallery for a ringside view of the proceedings.
So much so, they even demand copies of the agenda and press statements, much to the chagrin of reporters.
What is more, they seem to anticipate controversies and turn up in large numbers on that day giving an impression that they are privy to certain information beforehand. Worse, they seem to be partners in setting the agenda.
MCC Commissioner C.G. Betsurmath, however, said the media gallery was reserved for scribes and said he would take steps to restrict entry of unauthorised persons in future.
The Janata Dal (Secular) has a tendency of resorting to padayatra whenever there is a political crisis. Party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda has opted for padayatra on many occasions.
In keeping with his father’s legacy, JD (S) State president H.D. Kumaraswamy recently took out padayatra in Ramanagaram district, only to meet with resistance from H.G. Balakrishna, his own party MLA from Magadi.
Mr. Kumaraswamy’s padayatra from Ramanagaram to Manchanabele reservoir in Magadi constituency was aimed to put pressure on the government to release water from the reservoir for tanks.
Mr. Balakrishna retorted that he would not allow release of water at any cost. Faced with stiff opposition from party workers from Magadi party, Mr. Kumaraswamy said he was only demanding release of excess water without depriving people of their share of water.
Now, Mr. Kumaraswamy has planned to hold another round of padayatra and this time it is aimed at ensuring justice to IAS officer D.K. Ravi. Vexed by the government’s decision not to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the JD (S) leader announced the party’s stand to take out a100-km padayatra from Ravi’s samadhi in Doddakoppllu in Tumakuru district to the Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru.
- Anil Kumar Sastry, Girish Pattanasetti, Laiqh A. Khan, and Muralidhara Khajane
