In an effort to reach out to the urban poor, Karnataka state BJP president, BS Yeddyurappa stayed in a slum at Laxmanapuri in Gandhinagar in the run-up to the Karnataka Assembly elections in 2018. However, the visit the costed the host, Muniratna dearly as his family had to bear a cost of Rs. 11,000 for the stay.

Request for a western commode

Yeddyurappa had decided to stay in the slum for one night on February 2018 to gain first-hand experience of the woes faced by the people suffered by people living in the slums. Reportedly, he had requested for a western style commode to be fitted in place of an Indian style one which would be uncomfortable for him. While the BJP took responsibility for the charges, and neither Yeddyurappa nor the BJP cared to check with the family after he was done visiting them.

The family was not used to the western style commode and hence, wished to switch to the Indian style and which costed the family Rs. 15,000. Speaking to The New Indian Express, 64-year-old Indrani said, “We are not used to the western commode. In fact, I fell and hurt myself. Then we decided to change it to our old style. We removed the western toilet and constructed a new Indian style one and had to spend Rs 15,000 from our pocket. When we asked our local leaders, they paid us only Rs 4,000.”

Reportedly, Lakshmanpuri slum in Bengaluru experiences a host of problems like uneven roads, power cuts, irregular water supply and Indrani said that construction of the new toilet added to the long list of problems that the slum-dweller has to face.

Indrani said that the BJP leader has not even tried to contact the family after the stay and especially after the elections. Meanwhile, another senior BJP leader, when contacted said that he was not aware of the issue. “If the family approaches the BJP office and explains to our leaders, payment can be done,’’ he said.

While the BJP had released a socio-economic survey of slums in Karnataka ahead of the poll-run up, senior leaders like Jagadish Shettar and KS Eshwarappa had also slept in houses in slums.

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