By P.T. Bopanna
Well-known media personality, Deepak Thimaya, hailing from Kodagu (Coorg), has officially joined the Congress party.
I personally feel Deepak (Biddatanda), a talented and creative personality, should not have joined the ‘cesspool of politics’.
It was believed that for the past few years, Deepak was unofficially an advisor to deputy chief minister and Karnataka Congress president D.K. Shivakumar. Now he has formally joined the Congress (in picture with Shivakumar).
Basically, Deepak has been a television presenter (mainly Udaya TV Kannada channel) and producer of quiz and debate shows. His major achievement was setting up of Verbattle, an agency to organise debating competitions.
In recent years, very few Kodavas (Coorgs) have succeeded in politics. It is difficult for Kodavas to succeed in politics because in Karnataka, politics works on caste lines. Since Kodava population is numerically small, the community wields no influence in government and politics.
The only exception has been A.S. Ponnanna, who is now the MLA of Virajpet constituency in Kodagu. Initially, Ponnanna got a break in politics because of his father, the late A.K. Subbaiah, a former MLC, who was close to chief minister Siddaramaiah.
Ponnanna proved his mettle through hard work in the Virajpet constituency. It was a herculean feat for him to oust the BJP from its citadel in Kodagu.
I feel Deepak should have ideally concentrated on his core competence area of media, instead of straying into the big bad world of politics.
To achieve success in politics, one should be prepared to work 24/7 in the midst of people.
