KALABURAGI: The picture of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah handing over the expensive Hublot wristwatch to the Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa on Wednesday, after he was put on the mat by JD(S) Leader H.D. Kumaraswamy, reminded one of the observation by eminent writer U.R. Ananthamurthy, “if only a grain of truth is spoken about the majority of present-day politicians, their image will be reduced to shreds in no time. On the contrary, the image of Patel (former Chief Minister J.H. Patel) was such that the more truth one spoke about him, the more refurbished did it become”.
Mr Ananthamurthy made this observation in the wake of a public outcry over Patel’s admission of his weakness for “wine and women”. When Mr Patel made the candid admission of his weaknesses during an interview with a private Hindi channel, the Opposition pounced on him demanding his resignation for bringing disrepute to the post he had held and besmeriching the image of Kannadigas. But true to his character, Mr Patel not only emerged from the controversy unscathed, but had also emerged much stronger after the interview. Mr Patel was able to achieve this because of two unique traits in him: firstly he was honest (not to mean he was non-corrupt) and straight to the core and secondly, he had the gift of the gab. Mr Patel was always candid enough to openly talk about anything and everything that mattered to him, whether it was his personal life or something else and he never shied away from the ripples they created in the media. And sometimes even if what he had said, like what he did in the case of the interview with a TV channel, crossed the thin line of morality, the public appreciated his outspokenness because he was perceived to be always honest in his conduct.
