Slapgate shakes up Bangalore

This slapgate began last week with the minister severely reprimanding the assistant engineer for failure to complete civic works he had recommended in his Assembly constituency. According to the ministers version he only gave the assistant engineer an earful. The assistant engineer is said to have collapsed a couple of hours later when he got home. According to some accounts the assistant engineer spoke to a few senior Congress leaders before collapsing. The first two hospitals his family reportedly took him to refused to admit him saying nothing was wrong. A major hospital finally admitted him.

The assistant engineer has not recovered his voice yet and doctors at the hospital have said he is still under observation.

Minister Somanna,whose switch from the Congress to the BJP is seen as a key factor in the victory of senior BJP leader Ananth Kumar in the parliamentary polls and seen as a major player in BBMP polls that are also around the corner,remains unapologetic.

The KFD conundrum

Like in incidents of communal violence reported in Mangalore in 2006,there have been whispers of the involvement of a Muslim radical group called the Karnataka Forum for Dignity KFD in recent violence over the desecration of a madrasa in Mysore recently.

Though the KFDs professed aim is to carry out anti-dowry campaigns and empower the Muslim community,it is widely believed to be a counter force to right wing Hindu outfits.

As the media widely reported,the increased presence of the KFD is causing tension in parts of Mysore following the madrasa desecration and violence in BJP-ruled Karnataka.

One alleged KFD activist was even beaten up when he was filming outside a hospital where a BJP worker injured in the violence was being treated.

The activities of the KFD have been under the scanner of security agencies for a while in particular after it allied with the National Democratic Front in Kerala and Manithe Neethi Pasirai in Tamil Nadu to create the Popular Front of India in November 2006.

Muslim residents in parts of Mysore like Udayagiri,where the violence was centered on July 2,however have a different view of KFD. They are not trouble makers. They help people in times of crisis, says Hidayath a resident of Udayagiri. It was members of the group that went around collecting bullets that police used in firing to quell mobs on July 2 to show that real bullets were used as against police claims of rubber pellets.

The milky way no cakewalk

The Karnataka Milk Federation is considered a key element in the power politics in Karnataka on account of its linkages to the hundreds of milk co-operatives in the state and the lifeline it provides to thousands of rural homes in the state. The KMF has for several years now been under the control of the family of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda,with son H D Revanna being chairman of the KMF in recent years.

The three Reddy brothers of Bellary are now expected to make a play for control of the KMF as elections for the chairmans post are scheduled soon. The Reddys who are iron ore miners are sworn enemies of the Gowda family have already positioned youngest sibling Somashekhar as the head of the Bellary milk union. With his two elder brothers Karunakar and Janardhan,ministers in the BJP government in the state,commanding immense clout in the BJP the youngest sibling is believed to be a strong prospect to be the new KMF chief.