Tag Archives: bjp

Yedyurappa – Adikegey hoda maana, Aaney kotru baradu

Its interesting how people go behind what they lost. Its not uncommon that leaders try to regain their lost positions – or must I say politicians? In the same vein ever since Yeddy lost his seat as CM and was asked to step down in july last year, he has taken every opportunity since then to come back into the BJP which was stung with corruption cases, infighting and dissidence related issues.

It was then very evident that a successor for him was coming from his own camp within his team, when many others in the BJP were suggesting candidates who were not close to him in the interest of the party. Finally it boiled down to a lot of war of words from the BSY camp and Shettar camp. With both the governor and opposition targetting him, he also started being targeted by the BJP top cops themselves.

He had to do something soon so that people stopped climbing on his back. So he quickly chose his closest pal (at that time) – you know literally speaking – the same guy whose smile blinded cameramen with 1000W flashes – Sadananda Gowda, and nominated him as the next CM until he came out clean – which he never did until a year later even now.
Ananth Kumar has been the biggest thorn for Yeddy in his political career and one that is digging deeper and deeper into his flesh. This goes to show no matter how much someone is located at central, they can very well meddle with local politics. However this is not the same case for Congress where Krishna is still looked upon to support the team back home while the laggards back here hardly care about where the party is going. Always there is one Gandhian to lead the show and also get a big pie of everything. And anyway they are the opposition and can wake up only during election times.
I still remember the day when BJP routed JDS and congress and Yeddyurappa cried on the screen – which isnt new by the way – that he will uphold the state an steer it towards a clear developmental path. He also told that infrastructure is the highest focus area. And we can see that with the way BJP is uprooting trees here and there! With his enormous acting skills one could easily be convinced that he could hold his position forever.
There ended the similarity between Modi and Yeddy. Modi has visionaries who assist him on daily basis on how to make Gujarat great. Yeddy has dissidents who always assist him on how to pull himself down and out. Karnataka having lots of land is another horrible reason for subsequent politicians to be defocussed out of their normal duties! Giving the power of denotification of land for personal use is like giving a machine gun to a monkey. One look around Bangalore and we can see how this is being (mis)used to glory. How else can you explain builders making billions by selling ultra luxury apartments in the lap of mother nature and right besides a beautiful lake all for yourself? Have you seen the map of Sobha developers and the amount of projects they have around Bellandur Lake? That is what I am referring to when I say what will happen if such permission powers are provided!

Every single lake and forest has apartments next to it. Sobha forest view, Royal lakeview, and so on. Have you ever wondered where these apartments send their effluents to? Think a bit. The answer is not hard to arrive at. With Karnataka facing the highest taxes, scandal after scandal, the IT and BT industry losing their sheen, and infrastucture messes, we need someone who is a visionary at the helm to tackle all this. Not someone who denotifies a bit of land for himself and his family and still expect to regain a chief ministerial berth when there is a new and fresh CBI case against him.
Yeddy – Adikeygey hoda maana, aaney kotru baradu

Why you must not vote for BJP again?

Agreed we have seen resort politics before but those were not for dissidence. Those were to give better opportunities to MLAs in some other party other than the ruling party. Also, its always a known fact in politics that one could always be looking for an opportunity to knock the ruling party down by hook or crook.

But seriously what is missing in Indian politics is the urge to argue ethically, conduct business professionally, and work towards reaching consensus on correct matters and agree to disagree on wrong matters. In the past 65 years we have still not cultivated the art of agreeing to disagree.

Having said that, Yeddy’s brand of politics is all amusing, irritating, annoying and frustrating in one go. I still remember the time he cried on TV to a young girl who said she was waiting to see BJP rule in karnataka. He felt so overwhelmed that people had given him a majority mandate and that he would immediately put to use his expertise he has had in RSS into building a better governed state and city.

What has happened a couple of years after that episode is that Yeddy has continued crying for many things even a few of them which were denied to him. He continues to now slowly eat into the BJP base in Karnataka with his politicking with his higher ups and he is more of a naughty kid who needs to be in detention. The BJP must remove such people in a show of ethics and confidently approach another poll to teach the dissidents a lesson. Bringing caste and creed into the equation is only worsening things and the focus on development is completely lost.

Advani has done the right thing in letting Yeddy know that he will not be able to bail him out to be the chief minister of karnataka again. From land deals, to slow development of city and state in general, and for all the poor show that BJP did in the south, its only a matter of time before the congress rears its head again. Given the recent by election results where an independent candidate won, it only shows that the people are slowly fed up of the BJP for good. It is then only a matter of time before the BJP is decimated for all their wrong doings in the upcoming poll whenever that is.

The screw up of bio 2011, and other technical events has made the industry really unhappy about the current government. The industry has no more faith that they can repose in such a chief minister. The growth of karnataka is only going to take a backseat in the current year and more and more things are going to get mismanaged worse than ever.

Its time we boot our ex-cm out and show a strength of solidarity in putting together leaders who have vision, hope and work hard to realize the dream come true in the next decade. The next decade is one of very high importance and also competition where it matters the most for other states to pick up where karnataka left. If we do not have men of superior vision, and do not focus on what we do and work hard, we can see Karnataka lagging all the way in the next five years.

Palace road widening, GIM investments and the impacts

The road widening hooligans are at it yet again. This time they are aiming to chop off full grown trees alongside the palace road from both cauvery theatre side as well as from TV tower side. Reason is they want to make it a 10-lane road leading to the already glorious (for the wrong reasons) airport. Of course Mr.Srikantadatta being from the royal lineage wants 40 crores per acre or per squarefeet – all this while the government is already mulling whether palace really belongs to him or not in the first place. The palace itself is earning crores of money for all kinds of events and some sundry income from few roadside meters chopped off is a feather in wadiyar's money cap. Here it seems both the government and wadiyar are equally selfish to their own ends. Whether its road widening or underpass or flyover, in the name of infrastructure the government seems to be siphoning off funds here and there in mass scale. No wonder in the recent GIM, the government has sanctioned power projects alone to the tune of some 2 lac crore if i am not mistaken, and pat came the query from the high court asking for the details of such blanket approvals and what exactly were these projects. While industrialization of karnataka is not bad, mass approval of projects without any consulting agency or committee just by the chief minister is a certain invitation for trouble in the short future.

 

 

 

BBMP – Bruhat BJP Mahanagara Palike

Words don’t convey much. Pictures do. So here is the picture:

01 Apr. 06 23.48

(Source: TOI)

 

Finally Bengaluru is waking up to understanding what it means to vote. And specifically to vote for a absolute majority. It does not matter who won these polls. One thing is certain that people have given a party an absolute majority. So that it can silence its critics and complete its proper functioning for the rest of the term. The BJP is on a roll as far as Karnataka is concerned. And here is why:

  • Yeddy – Being a farmer, he can understand farmer’s sentiments. Being a CM he admits to his shortcomings and tries to constantly improve upon them. Being a senior administrator his focus is sharp – develop the city.
  • Weak opposition – RV Deshpande commented in today’s newspaper that if Bengaluru’s elite had come in plenty to vote, then Congress would have won. Bullshit. If they had actually come in plenty and voted, Congress in fact would have lost miserably. Who does not know congress ? They are known to introduce those mouth watering ‘economic reforms’ which in effect are just triggers to price rises. RVD, I think you are too old to reason it out this way.
  • Dirty politics – We don’t know where DG is hiding now. But HDK was his calm self (does he have much options?) – according to him, if this is what people want, then they must be ready to face price rises, and power cuts just because they elected the BJP ? – read as an absolute majority. Damn you parties, price rise is because of us population. What can they do about it? This world just got affordable to many more people, who have joined your ranks to claim their needs -  power, water, education, transport – so why will things not get costly? Milk dearer by Rs.3, petrol by Rs.2, diesel by Rs.3, so on and so forth. And by the law of the land, since diesel got costlier, like a theorem having corollaries, everything else in India is now proportionately costly. And add to that tax, vat, surcharge, birth cess, death cess, road cess, flyover cess, metro cess, political cess, voter’s cess – and you are in a big MESS of cess.
  • The next time you eat that milk laden icecream just think how you are contributing to the price rise and you will realize you are the problem, not the political parties. The amount of subsidies on fuel is so high since the past umpteen years, that we have to cough up a hell lot to offset the situation. I dont see any difference in this price rise thing whichever party comes in. Show me one instance where there has been any price decrease on anything after or before any elections?
  • Bickering congress – no amount of youth oriented political angles could fight against a determined party working towards development. A chance lost is 100 more opportunities permanently lost.

But is it all then rosy for the BJP ?? – Not exactly. Here is what they need to do on an urgent priority.

  • Develop Bangalore fully and permanently with sufficient thought about the future
  • Understand that Karnataka does NOT mean only Bangalore. Yeddy wake up and address other lesser privileged regions before they revolt
  • Tackle infighting within party and dont show the cracks to everyone
  • Handle the Reddy dominance in money power in a tactical way
  • Complete huge infrastructure projects without slippages. Dont keep bragging about some elevated highway that NHAI constructed and stop swallowing JNUURM funds.
  • People have belief in BJP as the only party which cares for Karnataka. Dont screw up that perception.
  • Show other parties that you are secular enough. Stop piggybacking Hindutva and work towards the ultimate progress
  • Make karnataka fully literate like Kerala.
  • Use Bengaluru’s best technologies in other districts.
  • Continue citizen friendly measures

 

Beyond all this, increase in power, milk, water costs is perfectly justifiable. Bengaluru cannot afford giving everything free to people anymore. For good services, there is a high cost. Take the case of water supply. Slapping huge bills is one way of avoiding unnecessary water usage. You should keep the same bill thousand times more for corporates for them to inculcate a sense of belonging and savings.

 

Someone in BJP commented after the elections:

We had said we will make Bengaluru a Singapooru, we have achieved it now

 

For heavens sake #Yavanoobba, do you have any clue what Singapore looks like or functions like ? Did you ever realize that Bengaluru is much much bigger than Singapooru now? And did you know Singapooru is not just about ring roads and IT Firms? Have you ever thought about how they manage their garbage? Or how they excel in every other field other than IT ? Or their uniform taxation on all goods ? Or the kind of transport system that’s available there? Or that it is one of the safest city in the entire world ? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you would also agree Bengaluru is nowhere near Singapooru, and will never be for the next fifty years at the nearest of future.

SINGAPORE IS BUILT BY ITS PEOPLE OF DIVERSE CULTURES. BENGALURU IS SCREWED UP BY ITS PEOPLE OF DIVERSE CASTES AND CREEDS. FOR THEIR OWN SELFISH ENDS. EACH TIME, EVERY TIME. WHAT MATTERS IS THE HABITS, AND ATTITUDE, NOT THE LANDMARKS OF THE CITY.

So BJP, concentrate on making Bengaluru atleast 25% of Singapooru. Good luck. You have MY vote.

Namma Metro – a peek into the completion schedule

I saw an image in Times Of India, which spelt out the completion times for the Bengaluru Metro or Namma Metro train service. This includes completion of work and commissioning of the actual line. I present that image here for reference:

metro.jpg

Source : Times of India.

Currently the line between Byappanahalli terminal and cricket stadium has gathered lots of steam and is on full pace especially in MG Road and CMH road. There have been a few roadblocks in terms of stay orders, but this is hopefull not expected to delay things more than a certain limit of time. So what you see as December 2010 could be well going into 2011 for commissioning. The Peenya to Swastik section of the line could also end somewhere in 2011 December if there are no hitches. Hopefully by 2013 all lines would be ready for use. It is also important to note that 2013 would be the end of BJP regime more or less in Karnataka so a lot depends on how they ensure this activity is complete by then. It is commendable that an extension of the line to Jaraganehalli and Hesaraghatta (shown in green) was done by the current CM. This makes more sense to connect the people of South and North specifically to city center. The lines shown in dark brown would probably be underground and this would be the biggest challenge for the Namma Metro considering uncertainities that would arise while the digging/trenching process is started. There have already been surprises with respect to the magic/match boxes, and the BMRC would have no excuses that this may not occur to them as well.

Monorail considerations are also on to firstly connect in a circular fashion, areas between Trinity circle, Lalbagh, Vijayanagar and Rajajinagar. But there also needs to be a deeper thought process to link up another route on the peripheries of the lines shown on this map. Security remains the top requirement of today for the metro, and no exceptions must be taken in this regard. The simplification of station design ensures that the overall work focus is maintained rather than just commercialization or elevations of these stations and subsequent monetization of the same. Hopefully its a better approach to take more time and do something of good quality once and for all, rather than constrict schedules and firefight at the last moment just to save some skin here and there, and avoid people’s wrath. On the compensation front, it seems that BMRC has not learnt enough and they are still lingering the process which might cause further delays. They must realize that evicting necessary people at necessary places is more important at the moment for things to go on smoothly. However this has its own downside with respect to the sentiments of the people who have grown up in their current homes and would be displaced. One good example is the fact that the CMH road approach for Metro was not at all required, and it would have been more easier to run the line on Old Madras Road, considering the fact that CMH road is, was and always would be accessible from OMR from any point.

Another controversy currently going on is the non-consultation with E.Sreedharan on matters related to the Metro. This is a shame that Karnataka has depicted an attitude like this when there is a capable person who is offering his services to bring out things on time. Ego is one thing, and realization of infrastructure in the true sense is another. The latter ultimately would be the collective efforts while the former is about who is the greatest in planning things. You decide which one we want! Its time we induct this man atleast now and make the project go forward faster. Another big difference and problem between Delhi and Namma Metros is the fact that in Delhi the rail route develops first and then everything linked to it, including real estate, whereas in Bangalore its vice-versa. Thousands of properties have been sold by developers harping on a non-existent PRR linking Surjapura and Electronics city even until today. The same thing with NICE Corridor. Whats the point in selling me a property that does not have access to the corridor by quotoing the corridor? It sounds insane. Even more insane is the fact that people actually buy these properties either without doing much research on the facts or sometimes foolishly and knowingly accepting the quirks upfront.

All said and done, I strongly believe and hope and also am sure that change is on the way and hopefully the worst case by 2015 which is exactly six years from now (yes this blog will still exist by then :) ) you and I would be taking the train more often than our cars for obvious reasons. I dont want to speak about BMTC linking up with the train routes, as it is evident that they are a self sustaining organization by now and they sure know what they are doing with a man like Tripathi at the helm of affairs. Even before you know it, BRT system will be in place and it certainly will be a well connected enjoyable experience. To end this post, only one question then remains to BMRC – how are you going to make this ride a safe one, what are your policies and plans for security on Namma Metro?

GOT SOME THOUGHTS? VOICE THEM OVER IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS POST.

It would sure be good to hear your opinions.

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This is politics

The political parties are at their favorite game again. Dirtying Bengaluru. The other day I was driving near the Hebbal Flyover and I was thinking “well its been sometime now and there are no posters in Bengaluru dirtying the place all around”. And as though to grant my wish, I came across a rather unbelieveable sight.

This

1006_084317.jpg

and these

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Suddenly there were pictures of all kinds of people from the Congress party crowding around DKS, who is now taking over as president of the regional congress party along with Deshpande. While the famous Times Of India editor HS Balram did point out that DKS did a good thing by organizing a rally at Doddaballapur,

PARTING SHOT Thanks Congress, for small mercies
Wisdom has at last dawned on the Congress. The swearing-in ceremony of R V Deshpande as president and D K Shiva Kumar as working president will not take place in Bangalore, but 50 km away in Doddaballapur. It’s Shiva Kumar’s idea, we are told. “We have earned the ire of Bangaloreans with rallies that cause traffic gridlock. So we decided to organize it outside the city,” he says. Good beginning, DKS. Now we know why you have been named ‘working’ president. Please ensure that the roads in Doddaballapur are not jammed.

little did he realize what mess that would create all the way to the BIAL. The mess is what you see above for many kilometers of drive.

On another side, while I was appreciating our BSY or Yeddy for maintaining a rather low profile, he started publishing posters all over south Bengaluru proclaiming that he was laying yet another foundation stone for yet another flyover – this time two of them at Agara and Iblur ensuring that a mess for another one year or more is created for the residents living in HSR layout making life hell for them.

yeddyad.png

Alright you people are doing the job, mustering support of citizens whatever. But please be responsible enough to atleast take off the posters once you’re done guys!

On a rather side note, Janata Dal Secular president unfortunately could not do any such thing in Bengaluru, since he died. He was perhaps the only person I appreciated for some reason. (I thought he looked cool :D ) But at a young age of 51, he passed away breaking the JDS further into tatters.

Whats amusing about the poster above Yeddy has advertised is that the minorities minister is always invited for all his functions! and So is Sobha Karandlaje. Sangliana who spoke so much against the CM and Home minister is also seen!

This is politics!

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Web hosts and deciding for yourself which ones to choose

In my past ten years of my web designing, I have had the need to switch my web hosts for many different reasons. Either the web host would one day pack up and not exist the next day, or their webservers would go horribly wrong with errors each time and take a long time to get alright. Or maybe sometimes I’ve wanted to upgrade from paying just one dollar to maybe something more for more facilities. Whatever has been the reason, I’ve always wanted a single place on the internet which gave me a clear picture of the existing webhosts who were popular during that time, along with details of their pricing and how many facilities and what did they have to offer. Most of all, I wanted to have all this in one place.

One such website that provides me this concise information is web hosting rating. They have a very nice site, listing out the top 10 webhosts and predominantly display their traffic offering and price offering, enabling readers to have a birds eye glance of what they need to choose. Also a detailed review of each web host service is available when the user clicks from the front page, giving more than enough details of the intricacies of the facilities offered by them.

They also have an educational set of articles about the web hosting practices, the costing, and what it means to choose a good host. You can see this article for instance which talks about a review of a particular host.

So what are you waiting for? Check out the best web hosts of 2008 and sign up with the one you think is worth it in your opinion. Make an informed decision and get the best for your website!

CBI junction Magic Box – yet to work its magic

Nowadays I have become a frequent traveler on Bellary road to my office and I cant help but ponder over the status of the CBI junction magic box work that is going on for almost months together now. Yesterday I happened to see a hoarding put up and I almost from its apperance thought that its ready for inaguration. But however upon looking closer I made out that without even tarring up the road, it was next to impossible to inagurate it.

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Then upon looking even closer, I realized that its the Ganganagar BJP unit, which had put up the hoarding to welcome Rajnath Singh and Advani to Bangalore. I am sort of miffed with the way BJP is operating just because it has got a long term government in place. They dont seem to realize that roads are chaotic everywhere, and absolutely no progress has been made towards resolving these issues amongst other infrastructural ones pending so far.

With this said I do hope that they finish up CBI junction magic box on time and then we must have a smooth drive all the way from Raj Bhavan upto Hebbal Flyover and beyond!

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Dance of Democracy – the cry of TOI

Finally the time has come with its own problems and solutions. The Dance of Democracy section has started appearing in our very own Times Of India which keeps raising a big hue and cry in every day’s paper on the various issues concerning Bengaluru. As though its the only one concerned. After the government handover debacle last November, its finally election time in the state. The state goes to elections on three days of which two are now over. Different television channels (again belonging to regional parties) are talking differently about the exit polls. So there is no clear clue on which party would make it. If my assumptions are true, then it would be definitely either the BJP or an unhealthy coalition of Congress and JDS again. While coalitions solve arithmetical equations, one cant say that they may solve the city’s problems. The real reason is that after satisfying the basic arithmetics of numbers, it then turns into another arithmetical sequence of "How much can I swindle in these 4 years?" kind of thing.

karnataka-map

(image courtesy Culture Holidays)

If you ask me, I would say, for the past 50 years after independece BJP has never been given, or got a chance to rule Karnataka. Even if they were the absolute majority party last time. This is the irony of things in Karnataka when a majority party has nowhere to go. While there is lot of bickering and bashing within Congress and dissidence within the party itself, the JDS has lost all credibility after the last year’s misgivings. I am not asking people to favour BJP. But common, here is a party that has never seen the light of the day with respect to running the government and at the helm is a simple man (he may not be very political, but he has stood by BJP for a long long time since his childhood) who might mean god to the villagers and the poor. The election results would be out in ten days and the electorate is in no mood for another nonsense coalition drama. Though everything was in our hands, still there can be a situation where nothing is in our hands. And this is exactly what the parties might be waiting for to create uncertainties again. Its time going forward that we look at other parties that have people from the public with proper background and education enough to manage a state and we must be able to choose them by way of their proven qualities than by just some election manifestos. Also considering that there was only 40% urban turnout in Bengaluru and 60% elsewhere in the second phase of polling, it only shows people are getting more and more disinterested in politics and the way the state is run. This can be a ploy adopted by parties to screw the state for another 20-25 years. We must realize this and break this jinx some day. For all you know there may be elections just around the year end once more (and this time Mr.Misra would offer a to be a coalition king maker for all you know) ! ;)

Anyways, my one cent on these crazy game of politics:

vote0517_175101

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