T
he lavish global investors meet (GIM) held last week in Bengaluru has indeed made me very popular across the world. Which reminds me, yesterday I received a postcard from Halfdan Helgason, who lives near the Keflavik international airport, Reykjavik, Iceland, saying he would have loved to invest in Karnataka if not for the fact that he was strapped for cash and late on his mortgage and alimony payments. Poor fellow, the inflation and the falling krona had taken a toll on his finances. Halfdan said he liked my photograph in the ad for the GIM in the local Frettablabid newspaper. Here I must confess that many friends said I looked dapper in the ad where I was wearing my smart pink tie (which our Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra had thoughtfully picked up for me from the Tie Rack on Oxford Street, London) to go with the Italian-style suit that Bengaluru designer Paresh Lamba got stitched for me. Chandan also picked up a dozen titanium rings which I refuse to wear since they cramp my toes when I wear shoes.B.S. Yediyurappa
The lavish global investors meet (GIM) held last week in Bengaluru has indeed made me very popular across the world...
Anyway, coming back to the GIM, the proof of its success was in the 353 MoUs that were signed and the promise by Adinath Hattikal (a 26-year-old Mangalorean who works in San Jose) that he would open a hardware shop in Shimoga, my hometown. I must point out here that much before I joined politics I too opened a similar establishment there. But yours truly got fed up selling door fittings and paint to people who preferred sky blue to saffron (my favourite colour). That, of course, is a different story. But let’s not digress. I must here put it on record that the GIM also saw my friend Janardhan Reddy (of the Bellary brothers) in action. He emerged as the man who pledged Karnataka the highest investment (Rs 36,000 crore). That’s several notches above what the firangi companies promised. I tell you, Janardhan, as Sushma Swarajji will vouch, is a goldmine of a guy and he did every Kannadiga proud at the GIM.
I must also not forget to thank my industries minister, Murugesh Nirani, for organising worldwide publicity. Not only did I figure in my suit (with vermillion tika on forehead) on desi satellite channels and newspapers but I was also there in ads in 69 foreign papers (including the Copper Basin News, San Manuel, Arizona, and the Bath Chronicle). Why, Murugesh even got a tobacco company to sponsor the (Red) Indians of the Eastern Cherokee reservation to send smoke signals extolling my virtues and extending an invitation to the GIM. Incidentally, going by the feedback, this PR effort has made me more popular than Blackfire, a popular Red Indian rock band.
To conclude: Here’s looking forward to next year’s GIM. And hopefully, the Indians from East Cherokee will add colour to the meet....
(As imagined by Ajith Pillai)
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