Brave-faced Siddaramaiah puts the tragedy behind

Bengaluru: Two days after he stood herat-broken before the mortal remains of his son Rakesh at the Dasara Exhibition Ground in Mysuru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was back at his desk on Wednesday and held a series of meeting with officers.

After the funeral of his son at T. Katur in Mysuru on Monday evening, Mr. Siddaramaiah left for Bengaluru the same night and stayed at his residence Cauvery.

On Tuesday, Mr Siddaramaiah confined himself to his room on the first floor of Cauvery, and refused to meet anybody, though many of his well-wishers came to Cauvery to console him.

The CM did not come down from the room till the evening and wanted to be left alone. His personal staff and friends were worried. Finally, friends and well-wishers managed to consoled him and requested him to resume work saying it would help keep his mind away from the tragedy.

Senior ministers, D.K. Shivakumar, R.V. Deshpande, Ramesh Kumar, Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa and H.K. Patil rushed to Cauvery and convinced him to come out of his room and engage in work.

It worked and on Wednesday, Mr Siddaramaiah asked his staff to convene meetings with BBMP officials, Police and legal team.

The CM spent nearly four hours with officials and ministers. During the meeting, he instructed forest department officials to co-operate with BBMP officials whenever required. He also warned of action against errant officials who refused to co-operate with BBMP officials to help the public during the recent floods.