The
Times of India: Hubli: Saturday, October 27, 2012.
More than 15
months after he resigned as chief minister, B S Yeddyurappa is still popular
among Right to Information (RTI) applicants. A case in point is the number of
RTI queries Yeddyurappa is attracting at the RTI cell in Dharwad, the home town
of chief minister Jagadish Shettar. Questions raised by opposition leaders on
the amount of the government money spent on the mutts, temples and travels of
Yeddyurappa are now being sought by his supporters and rivals among others. The
RTI cell located in the deputy commissioner's office in Dharwad is flooded with
applications seeking information on the "generous" donations made by
the former CM to mutts and temples during his tenure.
And
interestingly, most of these queries have reportedly come from supporters of
chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who he fell out with recently. S G Tikare, an
official at RTI Cell, said most people have applied to seek information about
what Yeddyurappa doled out to religious institutions. The RTI cell in the DC
office have received about 209 applications between April and October this
year, out of these 80 % applications relate to Yeddyurappa, he added.From
farmers to college students to advocates, the new-age Kejriwals are
increasingly filing applications under RTI especially after Yeddyurappa made
known his plans of launching a new outfit on December 10 in Haveri. "It
could be a strategy by his supporters to make know the vote banks about his
generous donations to mutts. And it could well be a tactic of Yeddyurappa's
rivals to expose him,'' a senior party functionary said.It's just not about his
generosity to Lingayat mutts alone. The applicants have also sought information
about the use of helicopters to attend political functions and his spending on
tours to attend public and political functions.
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