To get closer to common man,' Karnataka CM to resume village stay

Bengaluru: Brushing aside advise of doctors against ‘Gram Vastavy’' (village stay) Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, has decided to spend time in villages albeit for ‘Gram Janata Darshan’

Admitting that doctors had asked him not to spend the night in villages, Mr Kumaraswamy said he was contemplating an alternative to address the grievances of local people. “I am mentally inclined for ‘Gram Vastavya’ as it gives enormous exposure to problems of people at the grass root level. However, doctors, in particular my brother-in-law Dr Manjunath is very strict about that aspect. Though earlier ‘Gram Vastavyas’ gave me a lot of exposure about village and common people's problems, they keep changing and I feel I need to update myself with that. I am trying to explore ways and means of getting close to common people,” he said.

Official sources said the Chief Minister was thinking of camping in various regions in order to hold interaction with the people.

He wanted to get know more about problems haunting entire regions, sources added.

Mr Kumaraswamy had a valve replacement in September, 2017. This was the second valve replacement for Mr Kumaraswamy, who had underwent similar surgery in 2007. The tissue valve inserted in 2007 was replaced by metal valve this time. Soon after recovering, Mr Kumaraswamy started election campaigning, which was matter of worry for his family members about his health conditions.

However, Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology Director Dr C N Manjunath says that the Chief Minister's health condition was not fragile as everyone talk. “He is fit and he is conducting his day to day duties normally. Last week, he presented the budget standing for over two hours, without even taking a sip of water. I was watching it live to see how he would carry it on and I think, it was pretty good.”

“However, the problem is not with his fitness. Since he had valve replacement for the second time, we can not take chances with it. Any unhygienic circumstance can trigger any kind of problems. We are not sure about the dust or even quality of water, especially during night stay. So, we have advised him to do anything during day time, but not to stay in unknown places during night,” Dr Manjunath added.