The Karnataka government’s ‘Sakaala’ programme guaranteeing services in a time-bound manner is being adopted by the BJP-led NDA government. D.V. Sadananda Gowda, the Union law and justice minister, who was the CM behind this, is excited and shared his views in an interaction with Deccan Chronicle. On Saturday after a whirlwind tour of his constituency which falls in BBMP and after encouraging voters to come out and cast their votes, he sat for an interview. Sharing his experience as Union minister in Delhi, Mr Gowda also spoke about Bengaluru’s development. Here are excerpts from his interview.
Your flagship programme ‘Sakaala’ is being adopted by the Centre. Can you share the details?
Sometime back, I wrote an eight-page letter to the Prime Minister highlighting the importance of ‘Sakaala’ programme. He immediately agreed to adopt this. Now, the Prime Minister’s office is working on how to implement this programme. We have to decide on the programmes to be brought under this. This can help reduce corruption considerably and disposal of files to a large extent.
An ordinary person will get the service within a stipulated time. The top level officials could easily gauge the working style of their subordinate officials. It is very easy to assess governance. The Karnataka Act is so popular that even UN recognised this.
A year has passed since you became a minister. How was the journey so far?
The last one year is entirely different from the experience I had in Karnataka. The area of operation is very large; I have to deal with national level issues. I learnt a lot about good governance after going there. Relationship with officers and the time schedule is fantastic. The Prime Minister will be in office by 9.30 am. My office or I may receive a call from the PM. So I have to be there by 9.15 and my staff will be there by 9 am. We maintain the disposal register. Every officer has to give an explanation for pending files. There is a joint secretary level officer in the PMO handling one department each. I am forced to work accordingly.
Law department does not come in contact with the common man, does it?
But, it deals with all departments practically. Any department which wants to bring any law will give the subject to us. The law department will prepare the bill, examine it, vet it and return it. So, no department goes without the guidance of the law department. So, I have to deal with all the departments.
One year has passed since parliament elections. In the run-up to the parliament election, the BJP came out with a sort of manifesto for Bengaluru city. After one year, as Bengaluru North MP, have you come out with a performance report?
I think you are aware that I am not responsible for water and power connections. But I can ask for housing policies, where the Centre can help the state, ask for national highways, some skywalks. From Hebbal to the KIA Airport, I got three skywalks sanctioned. Five villages in Yeshwantpur have been included under Adarsh Grama Yojana.
Based on the inputs you got, what is your prediction? Will the BJP win the BBMP polls?
Usually, local bodies are dominated by the party ruling the state. We will be the frontrunner. I will not say we will get an absolute majority.
How do you say this?
I have very valid reasons. When BJP was in power, we gave special support, nearly Rs 1500 crore. But Chief Minister Siddaramaiah totally neglected the city. He did not give the city even a single paise.
Their argument is: BJP mismanaged the city, there was no transparency.
If this is the argument, what prevented Mr Siddaramaiah from ordering a probe? Why did he keep quiet? A corporator and a Congress MLA from Rajarajeshwari Nagar engaged in corruption.
The development and good governance initiative taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been appreciated by everyone. Our concept of Smart City projects and infrastructure programmes were backed by all. They wanted the same kind of rule in Bengaluru. Third reason: Barring small mistakes and deficiencies of the BJP, we have constructed flyovers, developed lakes. Garbage is one issue, which could not be handled properly. These are the reasons in the minds of people. So, I felt people would back the BJP.
Then, why did they not come out in large numbers to vote...
There are some valid reasons-they feel they are neglected in the democratic process but they can’t say everybody is bad and stay away from polling. Some candidates are a little better than others. Such candidates should have been backed.
When the NDA government assumed power, you ruled out a witchhunt or non-cooperation with states ruled by other parties. But our Chief Minister could not get an appointment with the Prime Minister...
No, that is not right. The Lok Sabha session was on when he was approached. Parliament did not transact any business. There was some stress on the PM, he said he would give an appointment after the elections. He has given an appointment for Monday. I would like to add one thing.
Our chief minister did not co-operate. He is a member of Niti Ayog but did not attend the meeting. The PM convened a meeting on the sugarcane price crisis. He did not attend it either. He should have gone to Delhi and told the PM what he wanted. He had never written a letter on farm issues. Then, you (Siddaramaiah) say the (BJP) is not coming to the rescue of farmers. That’s not fair.
Recently, you said Congress is going to lose the BBMP polls and Siddaramaiah has to step down after that. On what basis did you say that?
If I make a statement, it is considered political because I belong to an opposition party. His own senior leaders are making these statements. Who are they? They are not ordinary people. One is a very senior politician, who was former CM and former external affairs minister. The other is the leader heading the party in Lok Sabha and the third one is an AICC general secretary. My statement might be dismissed as political in nature. They made statements against the government. They are not happy. At last, they mustered courage two years after the government came to power and started to speak. That’s why I made that statement.
Finally, If BJP comes to power in BBMP, what will you do for the city?
In the last two-and-half-years, the non co-operation of the CM put the corporation under stress. The state government should be co-operative. We would like to bring in IT initiatives to curtail corruption. We will introduce ‘Sakaala’ in BBMP. We discussed providing Cauvery water to 110 villages. We discussed this with Venkaiahji (Union urban development minister).
He agreed. The issue of Metro phase-I escalation charges- we finalised it and the Centre approved. The CM did not even come to us with this proposal. Whose funds will flow for all these? We will give more importance to resource mobilisation, transparency in governance. Good governance and development will be our priority.
