Is stink and strike all that Mr Ashoka can offer us?

Home minister R Ashoka is under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Ashoka, who rose to the post of deputy chief minister by outsmarting several of his seniors, is now on the mat for miserably failing to manage affairs own his own turf — he is the minister-in-charge of Bangalore city, besides being the transport and home minister.

The ongoing garbage problem apart, now he has a fresh problem on hand — that of reining in the striking unions of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC).

Going by the miseries that Bangaloreans were put through on the first day of the indefinite strike, it appears that Ashoka was downed again by the challenges that face him.

His failing this time round was his inability to bring about an understanding between the striking unions and the management ahead of them going ahead with the strike on Thursday. Instead, he officially issued a statement to the media that everything would be normal and that people need not worry about the strike. But the ground realities were diametrically opposite — there was inconvenience for the commuting population of the city all round.

Schoolchildren suffered, so did IT professionals; both these categories depended on buses contracted by the BMTC to the schools and IT firms. At the eleventh hour, the IT firms were asked to make their own private arrangements to reach office, but what about the schoolchildren? Parents had to disturb their work schedules and hurry to drop and pick their wards to ensure they reached home safely.

As home minister, he failed to tap the police top brass and the intelligence wing of the force to gather prior information about an impending strike. These directly come under the home ministry’s jurisdiction. Yet, the deadlock between the unions who planned the strike and the KSRTC/BMTC managements could not be broken ahead of the indefinite protest launched on Thursday to ensure people’s convenience.

Just a day’s strike has cost about Rs400 crore to Peenya Industries Association alone.

Not so long ago, Ashoka had also failed to prevent the mass exodus of north-easterners from Bangalore, a development that took place for not addressing the rising fears against being targeted in the aftermath of the bloody Assam riots.
How long would this go on? Keep fingers crossed is all that one can do.

But deputy minister Ashoka is sure to come in for a lot of criticism.