Gowda listens to 'inner voice', cancels foreign trip

Bangalore: It is not clear whether his ‘inner voice’ stopped him or the criticism by BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa that resulted in the decision, but Karnataka Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda cancelled his 16 April foreign trip citing drought in the state.[caption id=“attachment_273800” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Chief Minister of Karnataka, DV Sadananda Gowda. Image courtesy PIB”]  [/caption] “I decided against the foreign tour not under pressure from anybody in the party. My inner voice is my advisor and I take decisions listening to it. Nobody else advises me,” he told reporters on the sidelines of 47th convocation of Bangalore University. The remark comes in the wake of Yeddyurappa’s statement in Gulbarga suggesting Gowda cancel the foreign tour when the state is reeling under drought. Gowda was scheduled to go on a foreign tour from 16 April attract investors in Karnataka. Gowda also said he didn’t want to react to media reports claiming he took decisions on others advise. About the decision of the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to release 2 TMC water from Dudhganga and Varuna, Gowda said, “This will mitigate the drinking water scarcity in North Karnataka.” Gowda also said he has sent a letter to the revenue department to settle payment issues with Maharashtra over release of water from their side. On Governor HR Bharadwaj abstaining from BU convocation, Gowda said he has left for neighbouring Kerala for some urgent work “as he is governor of both states. Gowda said he was unaware of the governor reportedly rejecting the list of people to be conferred with honorary doctorates. University officials said the list was rejected as it had ‘procedural flaws’. As per rules, bio-data of all those in the list has to be collated and their profiles scrutinised by the university Syndicate. The Syndicate will then approve a final list that will be recommended to the governor. PTI