A rough start for Yeddyurappa

When people in Bangalore say the new BJP government in Karnataka has had a 8216;rocking8217; start...

When people in Bangalore say the new BJP government in Karnataka has had a 8216;rocking8217; start, they actually mean the government has had a rough start.

Barely 20 days after taking over, the B.S. Yeddyurappa-led government has been in news for a police firing in which a farmer was killed, the death of a BJP MLA8217;s wife, and a controversial circular asking temples to perform pujas in the name of the new chief minister and the government.

There have also been a host of havans, homas and vaastu-talk as newly-inducted ministers jostled for the best office and residential spaces in Vidhana Soudha and the ministerial bungalows.

Even before he could settle down, much of Chief Minister Yeddyurappa8217;s energy has gone into fighting the fertiliser fire that threatened to engulf the state.

Just before the police firing on June 10, the government had transferred several bureaucrats across the state. But after the fertiliser protests, the new government has been forced to ask transferred officials at the district levels not to move to their new jobs until June 30. With their transfers imminent, many district officials are now counting their days and are in no position to take decisions.

8220;When we have already got our transfer orders, it will be inappropriate to do anything other than day-to-day functions. Nobody wants to take big decisions,8221; said a deputy commissioner who is awaiting a move to his new position.

Some of the transfers of senior IAS officials have raised eyebrows, especially the decision to shunt out V. Madhu, head of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited. With work in progress on the Bangalore metro rail project, questions have been raised over the need to transfer the BMRCL chief. The BJP, however, cited the precedent set by the JDS when it transferred the previous managing director of BMRCL.

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Among individual ministers who have laid out plans for their ministries is Infrastructure and Tourism Minister G. Janardhan Reddy. He has announced the setting up of a steel plant in Bellary district. He has also promised to provide a ring road for Bellary City to divert heavy vehicles from the city centre.

S. Suresh Kumar, the minister for law and municipal administration, has promised to end the practice of carrying night soil by municipal workers and assured quality infrastructure in tier II and III cities in the state. But other ministers, including five Independents, are yet to find their feet.