Mysuru: Former DG & IGP, Shankar Bidari has said it was impossible to expect any development works in the next three years as the debts of the State and the Union Governments have gone up by three times and it would be difficult even to pay interest of loan.

He was speaking after inaugurating a programme titled ‘Mareyalagada Mahaniyaru — Navakarnataka Shilpi S. Nijalingappa – Ondu Nenapu’ jointly organised by District Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Mysuru and Dr. K.S. Gowdaiah Pratishtana, K.R. Nagar, at District Sahitya Bhavan in Vijayanagar 1st Stage on Monday.

Bidari opined that the Government of India, instead of giving money to farmers annually, should provide job to one from each farmer’s family for empowerment. The agriculture was a State subject and the Union Government has no role in it. But, the Union Government was paying Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000 to each farmer. Instead, job to one member of each farmer family may be given.

During Freedom Struggle, veteran freedom fighter, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had appealed to people ‘Give me blood, I will get you freedom.’ In current situation, no political leader has guts to promise good returns to farmers from agriculture. Today, every leader was after power and no one was ready to tell people to work to earn as they did not want to become bad in their eyes. “We can come out of problems only through hard work,” Bidari said.

The former Top Cop said he would not blame politicians for non-development of country, State, city and rural areas as 135 million people were also responsible for it. Today, they were dishonest and not discharging their duty properly. The attitude of citizens’ must change and make honest contribution to the nation’s growth in their own way. Time has come for them to make self-introspection, he added.

He said crores of rupees were spent to conduct the election. One or two harp from one party to another party. Whether these turncoats were bought by other party by offering them tamarind seeds? Someone had said that he joined another party to repay loan borrowed to contest election. In the end, such people will drown in Bengaluru’s Vrushabhavathi River and not in Ganga, Yamuna or Cauvery River. 

Ministers and Legislators were not aware of problems in other constituencies. All the CMs in recent past have got released more funds for their constituencies for development works but former CM, late S. Nijalingappa never differentiated and distributed equally among all the constituencies. Nijalingappa belonged to a rare breed of politician, he noted.

Paying rich tributes to Nijalingappa, Bidari said Nijalingappa was one of the best politician that Karnataka has seen so far who did not have any property except own house. The former CM strictly followed his own ideology and never inclined to make property. He never differentiated between urban and rural populace and treated them equally. Nijalingappa had dreamt of economic empowerment of rural population on the lines of urban people.

Felicitation

MLA L. Nagendra felicitated freedom fighters Y.C. Revanna, Dr. M. Somashekaraiah and B. Lingaiah during the occasion. 

Former MLC Dr. M.P. Nadgouda recalled his association with Nijalingappa. Dr. K.S. Gowdaiah Pratishtana President K. Prakash, Backward Classes Awareness Forum President K.S. Shivaramu, Kannada Sahitya Parishat Mysuru President Dr. Y.D. Rajanna, Secretary K.S. Nagaraju and Convener Mugur Nanjundaswamy were present.

Phone story of Nijalingappa

While I was serving as Chitradurga SP, the then CM Ramakrishna Hegde called me to inform that he was unable to contact S. Nijalingappa through telephone and wanted me to find out the reason. So, I went to telephone exchange and enquired about Nijalingappa’s landline connection. I was told that the telephone had been disconnected for non-payment of Rs. 45 monthly bill. Re-connection would be given only after payment of the pending bill amount and re-connection charges of Rs. 20. So, I paid Rs. 65 and informed Hegde to contact Nijalingappa now. After few days, I got a call from ‘Yajamanaru’ (Nijalingappa). When I visited his house, after offering tea, he asked why I paid the telephone bill and said that he was not in need of the telephone. I was asked to come on second of next month. When I went on that day, Nijalingappa gave me a cover containing Rs. 65 in it. This is the simplicity of former CM. —Shankar Bidari, former DG &IGP