Inside a hall in a city star hotel the other day, 200-odd delegates at a CII-hosted conference were celebrating Indian women leaders and achievers. The talk invariably led to why India was third from the bottom when countries were ranked in terms of women in top positions. The gathering of mostly women pondered why there still are few women directors on the boards of stock exchange-listed companies even after regulator SEBI had reminded and penalised violating companies. The answer was not too far away. Just outside, as you made your way to the conference hall, was what the National Women’s Commission chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam called “the three P’s”. On the tables were jars and jars of - ahem - pickles, spice powders, jams and goodies, purportedly creations of women. Ms. Kumaramangalam flayed stereotyping women’s enterprises into three ‘Ps’ and an ‘A’: pickles, papads, powders and agarbathis. Going by the sea of colours, the event also turned out to be a meeting of, for and by women. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been a bad idea if a few more black suits also sat through such sessions and heard the other side for themselves.
Sparring over
Dy. CM’s post
A war of words broke out between veteran Congress leader M.V. Rajashekaran and Congress Chief Whip in the Legislative Assembly Ashok Pattan on the proposal of inducting Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Parameshwara into the State Cabinet as Deputy Chief Minister.
On Ambedkar Jayanti,
Mr. Rajashekaran openly praised the KPCC chief and said, “Dr. Parameshwara is not only a knowledgeable person but also a scientist”, and recalled his contributions to the party’s victory in the 2013 Assembly polls. “I will continue to bat for Dr. Parameshwara for the Deputy Chief Minister’s post and not rest until the goal is achieved,” the octogenarian said. Two days later, Mr. Pattan lashed out at the veteran leader and threatened to stage a dharna outside Mr. Rajashekaran’s residence if he did not stop raising the hot ‘Dy. CM’ issue. He went on to say that Mr. Rajashekaran had switched sides to support Dr. Parameshwara with an eye on Rajya Sabha membership.
Mr. Rajashekaran brushed this aside as false and said he had on three occasions rejected gubernatorial offers made by party president Sonia Gandhi. “At this age, I am not after power. I have been given (positions) beyond my expectation. Even the membership to the Legislative Council came as a surprise to me,” he said.
Growing voices for separate State
Even as the Karnataka government has announced a special package for backward taluks based on the Nanjundappa Committee report on regional imbalances, voices continue to rise in demand for a separate North Karnataka State. BJP MLA Umesh Katti was the first legislator to make this pitch. He started to galvanise support for it but before the voices could get louder, Mr. Katti’s party gagged him. The message to him was loud and clear: “The idea is simply not acceptable, so clam up.”
Now, just as Mr. Katti seems to be toeing the party line, Congress MLA of Devarahipparagi constituency A.S. Patil Nadahalli has started echoing the demand. A few days ago he said, “Either announce a special package of Rs. 30,000 crore for the development of North Karnataka or make it a separate State.”
The Congress, which was quick to react, called it politically motivated and served a notice on the MLA. It questioned the MLA’s intention and even asked him to resign if he did not believe in the unity of the State. Meanwhile, both Mr. Katti and Mr. Nadahalli maintained that they are only fighting for justice for NK.
Touchy issue
of protocol
Protocol violation seems to be a common grouse of VIPs in the politically charged JD(S) heartland of Hassan. This time around, a JD(S) leader was at the receiving end. The district authorities allegedly violated protocol during the recent inauguration of a lift irrigation project at Udayapura in Channarayapatna taluk; their crime was that they allowed on the dais people who were not elected representatives.
After the incident, JD(S) leader H.D. Revanna complained to Speaker of Legislative Assembly Kagodu Thimmappa about the alleged ‘protocol violations’ by district authorities. He claimed that the Deputy Commissioner had insulted his father H.D. Deve Gowda and local party MLA C.N. Balakrishna by not inviting them to the event.
Some years ago, when the Congress and the JD(S) were in a coalition government headed by N. Dharam Singh, an event to lay the foundation stone for a ‘Nava Grama’ at Dyapalapura was organised. At that time, Mr. Revanna and his party leaders were faulted for not allowing the then Information Minister B. Shivaram to preside over it as was customary.
In 1982, a similar incident of `protocol violation' had even led to firing in a village of Hassan district. Mr. Deve Gowda, who was the then Holenarasipur MLA, was apparently left out of an event at the behest of another Hassan strongman H.C. Srikantaiah, who was Minister in the then Congress government.
Madhumathi D.S.,
Nagesh Prabhu,
Firoz Rozindar, and Muralidhara Khajane
