Less than two weeks after Basavraj Bommai took over the chief ministership from BS Yeddyurappa in Karnataka, a photo of his son Bharath in the Vidhana Soudha along with industry leaders have caught attention for wrong reasons. On August 8, the industry leaders had given the new Chief Minister a courtesy visit to discuss industrial development and infrastructure of Bengaluru. The meeting was attended by IT tycoons Azim Premji, Mohandas Pai, Executive Chairperson of Biocon Limited Kiran Mazumdar Shaw among others.
Naturally opposition Congress has raised the matter asking what is the role of Bharath in the CM’s meeting with industry stalwarts. In a tweet on Saturday, the Congress asked if Bharath’s presence had anything to do with continuation of “dynastic politics” and even called him Dhritarashtra . In the recent years especially to the run up to the 2014 elections, the BJP had attacked the Congress over “dynastic politics” over the overarching reach of the Gandhi family in party affairs and also governance when the Congress was in power.
The Congress mentioned that a similar allegation of propagating dynastic politics was leveled against previous Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa as his son Vijayendra would often be part of official meetings. In fact, many including the BJP MLAs and the Opposition had started referring Vijayendra, who is state vice president of the BJP, as the Super CM. In political circles, Vijayendra’s influence in day-to-day state’s politics was also deemed to be the reason for Yediyurappa’s ouster from the CM’s seat at the behest of the party High Command. BSY’s other son, Raghavendra is Lok Sabha MP from Shivamogga. Unlike, Yediyurappa’s sons, Bharat is not in active politics and identifies himself as an entrepreneur.
The tweet tagging the CM asked, “What is your son's role in the government meeting with industrialists? Intention to continue dynastic politics? When @BSYBJP was in power, @BYVijayendra conducted meetings with officials and involved in government, now have you also started on the same path?Dritrashtra's love is not good.“
In popular mythology of Mahabharatha, Dhritarashtra is seen as a weak king for not reigning in his sons.
A reason for @BSYBJP’s downfall was the supposed interference of his son in governance. Now, Congress has alleged that CM @BSBommai’s son was present at an official meeting. Bommai who has made a good beginning should ensure he does not fall into the same trap as his predecessor. https://t.co/OrkJFYMNJv
— Gautham Machaiah (@GauthamMachaiah) August 14, 2021
The BJP is yet to react to this allegation.