Daijiworld Media Network - Mandya (SP)

Mandya, Aug 26: "Changing the name of Indira Canteen was included in the BJP election manifesto. Will the food turn harder and become difficult to digest if the canteen is named after Annapoorneshwari?" wondered BJP national general secretary, C T Ravi. He was speaking after taking part in the media interaction programme held here on Wednesday August 25.

"I have spoken about the need to change the name as 'Annapoorneshwari Canteen' because of the fact that Indira Gandhi's photograph has been used there. Annapoorneshwari is a part of Goddess Parvathi. Even if the name of the scheme is changed, the purpose of providing food to the poor will remain untouched. We will take a decision after holding discussions in the party forums," he explained.

Ravi mentioned that the members of a single family have named hundreds of government schemes after themselves. "Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi honoured themselves with the 'Bharat Ratna' awards while Dr B R Ambedkar was given this honour in the year 1989-90. Ambedkar was given this award after Atal Bihari Vajpayee mooted the proposal when V P Singh government supported by the BJP was in power at the centre," he stated.

Ravi asserted that the government has not overlooked anything as far as the implementation of Mekedatu project is concerned. "Kaveri final award has been received and water has been distributed. We can implement any scheme out of the share of water allotted to Karnataka. We will see that the concern of the people of Tamil Nadu on the issue are addressed by convincing them. My opinion is that the drinking water project will not be blocked," he said.

Ravi stated that public undertakings are like white elephants which become too costly and unwieldy to handle. "In order to improve their productivity, the government has proposed an asset encashment scheme. Privatisation process is not new. Right from 1991, public undertakings are being privatised," he said.