It's the kind of popularity every political leader yearns for. But it seldom happens that all these traits are bestowed singularly upon one individual. Karnataka chief minister S.M. Krishna is one of those rarely blessed personalities.
His appeal, it seems, is universal - well-liked by the rustic as well as by the urbane. He is a leader who's not tainted by blemishes of moral turpitude or brazen deeds of favouritism. And that is precisely why he has the moral courage to unabashedly ask political foes to pitch in for accelerating the mechanism of development. It has taken Krishna eight months to express each of these attributes in their entirety.
The upshot: Karnataka is not only regaining its lost sheen as the most favoured destination for investors, but has actually taken a step forward. The chief minister's style of functioning sets him startlingly apart from his predecessors. A man with a perennially unruffled composure, his vision doesn't merely envisage a place in the sun for the state's infotech sector. He is equally committed to an increase of per capita income in the agrarian sector.
Krishna's popularity can be gauged from the fact that one of his predecessors, Ramakrishna Hegde, has praised the new CM's initiatives much to the chagrin of his own Lok Shakti people as well as the BJP leaders. Their contention is that Krishna has the "advantage" of succeeding a somnambulant J.H. Patel. Says Karnataka assembly Opposition leader Jagadish Shettar: "It's sheer media blitz that's helped the chief minister take credit even for routine decisions."
In early June, Krishna faced his first crucial test as leader of the Congress party and chief minister - elections to zilla and taluk panchayats and the first Global Investors Meet (GIM). The score-sheets were telling - the party won 26 of the 27 zilla panchayats (649 of the 889 seats) and 2,099 of the 3,252 taluk panchayat seats. And at the GIM, the state government signed MoUs for investments - which are supposed to bring in Rs 17,000 crore more than what was targeted - in sectors as varied as power generation, cement, automobiles, vegetable oils, infotech and infotainment (Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp plans to set up a Rs 1,000 crore facility near Bangalore). As Ravi Uppal, head of the state unit of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and managing director of Volvo (India) Pvt Ltd, said: "The government is building a unique platform of trust between itself and the industry."
But well before the GIM's valedictory on June 30, Krishna is scheduled to visit Singapore to firm up on phase II of the $208 million International Tech Park Ltd (ITPL) near Bangalore, and to invite investments from the government there. Avers the chief minister: "I want them to invest their surplus resources in Karnataka."
The follow-up on projects approved at the GIM is perhaps unparalleled.
The Reliance Group sought 80 acres for an infotech park near Bangalore. The government sanctioned 70 acres inside the Electronics City the next day.
The entire phase II of Electronics City with a sprawling campus of 240 acres was allotted to entrepreneurs during the GIM.
In the case of G. Manoharan Naidu, music director and managing director of Lahari Recording Co Pvt Ltd, who signed an MoU with the state government for setting up a Rs 110 crore audio and video cd-rom facility near Bangalore, an approval came within two days. Gushes Naidu: "It's been an extraordinary experience for me. At the GIM, I told the officials that I need an approval for conversion of agricultural land for industrial use. I got the clearance within two days, without having to pay bribes. In the evening I got a call from the industries department, asking me if any formalities were pending. I am told that all the requisite approvals will be granted by June 24."
So, Krishna's clear focus on development and constant monitoring has helped the state to draw in more investments than those set off even by President Bill Clinton's visit to the country. And if his much-feted Andhra Pradesh counterpart thought that he had won after Clinton graced Hyderabad at Bangalore's cost, Krishna's coup by wooing the Hyderabad-based Sathavahana Ispats Ltd to sign an MoU to start a Rs 400-crore coke-oven plant for generation of 50 MW of power near Bellary has shown Naidu that he was mistaken.
Officials say Krishna actually made a remarkable impression on investors during the World Economic Forum summit at Davos three months ago. During his presentation, he reportedly explained that though finance minister Yashwant Sinha and he were from political parties with diametrically opposite ideologies, both agreed on the policy of development. The process of liberalisation was initiated by a Congress government in 1991, but was being continued by the one being led by the BJP, and "we (both the parties) want you to come to India." At the GIM, he had Sinha for the inauguration and Arun Jaitley at the end of the two-day meeting. Even his predecessors, Hegde and Veerappa Moily, were there among the invitees - a rare feat.
His colleagues find him different from other chief ministers - one who has clarity in thought and is democratic too. According to a senior minister, at cabinet meetings, the CM doesn't bulldoze his way through, he listens to his colleagues. For instance, when the cabinet was discussing the threat of Mangalore Power Company (Cogentrix's joint venture) to pull out, the CM was initially perturbed at the slow progress and bureaucratic hurdles which were responsible for the pullout. Eventually, however, he was convinced that it was good as the state was not in a position to afford the power generated by this project.
Krishna is democratic but he is no softie. He continues with his surprise visits to various government offices to jolt the bureaucrats into action. Recently, he visited a granary of the state food and civil supplies corporation, and found rice supplied by the Food Corporation of India unfit for consumption. His retort that the rice should be dumped at Krishi Bhavan, Delhi, has had his political adversaries, the BJP in particular, baying for his blood. They have dubbed it a political stunt because his visit and subsequent criticism of the public distribution system deprived the BJP of support even in districts which had been traditional strongholds of the party. "The campaign that the BJP government hiked the prices of commodities affected our prospects. The turnout was poor because the elections were held soon after his visit to the granary," frets Shettar. (The BJP, incidentally, has slipped to the fourth position in this month's polls to the local bodies, registering a single-digit show in seven of the 27 districts.)
Krishna, however, continues to ignore such barbs. "The fact that we did not shy away from holding elections, but held them at the earliest was one factor that helped us win. The credit for this victory will be shared with all the Congress workers. Also, the earnestness with which we are going about implementing our promises has really impressed the people in rural areas," said Krishna.
As president of the PCC, Krishna is leading by example. He visits the party office at least twice a week. His ministers too have been forced to emulate their leader and interact with party workers. As a consequence, his detractors within the Congress have little opportunity to raise the banner of revolt. And when they do - like during the GIM when three ministers opposed investments by mncs and later retracted their statement - he has a firm message for them: toe the government line or quit.
The chief minister's vision is to create multiple growth centres so that the entire state develops in a uniform fashion. "I would like to scale greater heights. If you think I am satisfied with the way I have performed over the last eight months, I am not; I feel a bit depressed because I could have done better. I want Karnataka to be prosperous and make it a state that is surplus in power generation by 2004." Should he succeed in making it a power-surplus state, his political power too would increase exponentially.
