Kumaraswamy hit by ‘five-star CM’ tag ahead of his village-stay programme

Karnataka CM H.D. Kumaraswamy has been operating out of a five-star hotel for a year, drawing criticism from the opposition and some of his own party members.

File photo of H.D. Kumaraswamy | PTI

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is set to embark on the second edition of his village-stay programme amid a growing opposition chorus that he is a “five-star CM”.

Kumaraswamy is set to visit villages four times a month, with the intention of mingling with the people and making his administration more effective. He also plans to spend each night in a government school building, with just a mat on the floor for him to sleep on.

With this, Kumaraswamy intends to stem the growing perception that he is not a CM for the poor, given that he has been conducting official business for the last one year out of a five-star hotel next to his allotted official home-office in Bengaluru.

B.S. Yeddyurappa of the BJP, the leader of the opposition, demanded that Kumaraswamy give up this “five-star culture” and stop living in the hotel “if he really is a representative of the people”.

Even members of his own party, the Janata Dal (Secular) have been complaining that he has been increasingly inaccessible — many say they were denied entry or sent back from the lobby.

Why Kumaraswamy is working out of a five-star hotel

When the JD(S) and Congress tied up to form the government in Karnataka last year, Kumaraswamy was working out of a five-star hotel. But in a closed-door meeting, Congress legislature party leader and former CM Siddaramaiah is said to have suggested to Kumaraswamy to stop sending out wrong signals to the public, pushing the CM to operate out of his personal home-office in J.P. Nagar.

However, residents near his house were soon quite upset that their lives were thrown out of gear by the constant VIP movement and gathering of people, which caused traffic congestion and an increase in noise.

The state government allotted the CM an official home-office called ‘Krishna’, but the highly superstitious Kumaraswamy, who is known to consult astrologers for all major decisions, was advised that Krishna was not Vaastu compliant.

Last year itself, Kumaraswamy announced that he would adopt certain austerity measures and rejected the government car and bungalow. But soon after, he began working out of a five-star hotel, raising eyebrows about the mixed signals he was sending out.

Political analyst Ramakrishna Upadhya called it “total hypocrisy” on his part.

“No chief minister has ever worked from a five-star hotel. It was not just for a week or two, it was for months, and with an office next door, what he did was totally unbecoming of a CM. How does one expect common people to visit him? He was running the government but was totally inaccessible,” Upadhya said.

Change could’ve come earlier

Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office said Kumarasamy wanted to begin his village stay programme even before the Lok Sabha elections, but his doctors advised against it due to ill-health.

But the drubbing that both the Congress and the JD(S) faced in the parliamentary elections forced Kumaraswamy to go back to the people.

Also, his hand was forced by the defeats of his father and former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda in Tumkur and his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy in Mandya, which came as an eye-opener for the family.

Success of the previous edition

Kumaraswamy’s Gram Vastavya and Jana Samparka (people connect) programmes were very popular in his previous tenure as CM in 2006-07, when his party was in alliance with the BJP and Yeddyurappa was his deputy.

Kumaraswamy gained widespread public recognition and appreciation from the people, as he visited several remote villages and stayed at the homes of villagers to interact with them and understand their problems. He would also clear files during his stay, which would help in resolving problems of the village immediately.

He conducted a total of 47 Gram Vastavyas back then, but this time, he plans to stay in government schools, which he says will help improve the conditions of schools and their infrastructure.

Chandan Gowda, professor of sociology at Azim Premji University, feels that though Kumaraswamy’s village connect programme does seem like an immediate response to criticism, it is possible he would have embarked upon it in any case, given the popularity of the programme in 2006-07.

“He has an authentic connect with people. When other politicians such as Yeddyurappa visited rural homes, they didn’t elicit a similar enthusiasm,” Gowda said.