Bengaluru: Although Bengaluru is once again struggling to cope with the heavy rain of the last week, neither Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy nor his deputy, Dr G Parameshwar seem concerned. While Mr Kumaraswamy is in Tamil Nadu, on yet another temple visit, Dr Parameshwar has done nothing except pay token visits to some areas in the city in the weeks since assuming charge. In the past, Chief Ministers often held review meetings about the infrastructure needs of Bengaluru and went on city rounds to get first hand information about its problems.
But Mr Kumaraswamy has not held even one review meeting over the past four months on issues concerning the city and nor has he visited any of its localities.
Strangely, the opposition, BJP, too seems to have thrown up its hands, not bothering to take the government to task for its neglect of the city. This despite BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad’s admission that the civic agency is facing a shortfall of Rs 1,5420 crore as it has not received funds from the government and no development work has been taken up in the city as it is not able to pay the contractors.
During the last government, Bengaluru’s BJP leaders had raised several issues concerning it. But this time they seem oblivious to its problems. Some party insiders say it is upto senior leader, R Ashok to lead the party on issues concerning the city, but he doesn’t seem to be interested. Instead of the BJP, it is the High Court which has been pulling up the BBMP and the state government on various counts of late, even suggesting that the civic agency should wind up if it cannot perform.
