Will Varuna' help Siddaramaiah boost his image?

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Mr Siddaramaiah, who has been fighting a spate of  negative publicity over the last four years owing to the drought in the state, on Thursday inaugurated a modern well equipped media centre  at his home office, Krishna,  fittingly named Varuna (rain) as if to stave off more of it. 

But as  Mr Siddaramaiah also represents Varuna in Mysuru in the state assembly, many were left wondering if the centre had been named after the constituency. The Chief Minister, however, clarified it had nothing to do with his constituency and the centre had been named after the rain god in the hope that the state would get copious rain in future.

Besides, a  well illuminated studio, the media centre has backdrops, teleprompters and recording equipment for the Chief Minister's interviews. 

But sadly, those responsible for building it have not applied their mind enough as it has sandwiched a butter fruit tree (Avecaud) that was planted during the tenure of Mr J H Patel as CM (1996-99), when Mr Siddaramaiah himself was Deputy CM.

 The sapling was presented to Mr Patel during a meeting of farmers by Mr Kadidal Shammanna, a farmers’ leader and writer, and was planted by both men in the grounds of the home office. When Mr Shamanna visited Krishna last year to attend a farmers' meeting, he made it a point to see the tree before leaving. 

According to sources, the tree would have been left untouched had the authorities gone with earlier plan to use a building in a section of the home office grounds  for the media centre.