KPCC chief Poojary and his one-day game

RAICHUR: The quizmaster had arrived. The stage was set. Your time starts NOW, he told the bemused villagers who dropped drought-relief work to have a go at the round of questions. KPCC president Janardhana Poojary, after having tested his quizzing skills in Gulbarga, decided to throw some basic queries to the villagers of Yeragara in Raichur district on Friday.
As he called on them to join him, the young, old and children dutifully rushed to him.And there are cash prizes to be won too, he cajoled. But the answers must have hit him real hard. Playing the dynasty card, he asked who Rajiv Gandhi was, and what was his relationship with Sonia Gandhi. Some women labourers piped up loudly in Telugu: “Koduku kavali (He was her son)�!! Son or husband, they got their prize of Rs 100. One senior resident of Leprosy Colony was sure that “our leader Earanna is the MLA of Raichur� while another bet on “Rehmaansaab� for the simple question: “Who is MLA of Raichur?�
Meanwhile, the real elected MLA Syed Yasin could only pull a face. His cheerleaders were there in strength too: all elected representatives of the Congress — MP A. Venkatesh Naik, Raichur MLA Syed Yasin, Kalmala MLA Raja Amaresh Naik, who is also district in charge minister and minister for prisons and home guards, and Manvi MLA N.S. Bhosraj, who played the role of interolcutor — translating questions from Kannada to Telugu and answers from Telugu to Kannada. Deodurga MLA Yellappa Akkarki, Itagi MLC Basawaraj Patil, former MLA of Sindhanoor K. Virupakshappa, ZP president Ramanna Irabgera, City Municipal Council president Mouneshwari Pampapati, vice-president M. Veeranna, former general secretary of district Congress Abdul Kareem and others were also present.
Despite the fact that the politically correct crowd was there, Poojary missed an important point: that child labourers have also been engaged in the drought relief projects. The minor irrigation department had engaged them to desilt the tank in Yeragara village on Monday morning, and it was to inspect this project that Poojary had visited the district. Not that anyone was ignorant. They knew children had been engaged in jungle cutting and cleaning since Thursday morning. The police officers were in the know too, but kept a discreet silence.
Of course, Poojary could not have missed the small labourers as they rushed towards him. Unfortunately, they were prevented from getting too close. Earlier in the morning, he had a darshan of Moola Brundavan of Raghavendra Swamy at Mantralayam, after which he stopped over at Yeragara to inspect the desiltation works. The scheme involves 1,200 agricultural labourers, including children, Labourers are paid Rs 46.50 as 25 per cent and given foodgrains as a 75 per cent component as daily wages.