PALINI R. SWAMY writes from Bangalore: Although the size of the Karnataka market is smaller than Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Bangalore probably has the largest news media presence than the other three southern capitals and perhaps most other cities, barring Bombay and Delhi.
At last count, there were 14 major morning brands (eight English, six Kannada), five English business dailies, four 24×7 news channels (three Kannada, one English), and at least a dozen dailies in Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and even Hindi, besides a few evening newspapers.
On top of that, there are the correspondents of the various district and “up-country” papers, magazines, and TV stations, and over a hundred photographers and videographers, plus publishers, proprietors and a handful of “resident editors” from the Press Club of Bangalore (PCB).
Even so, how big could the media contingent in Bangalore be?
One-thousand five hundred?
Yes, 1,500: That’s the number of “media-friends” that the B.S. Yediyurappa government would like to believe attended a party thrown by it on 27 June 2010 at a local hotel.
Numbers obtained by Vinayak Bhat Mooroor, a correspondent of Kannada Prabha, under the right to information (RTI) act and published by the paper on Saturday, show that the BJP government has thrown at least 27 parties (14 of them for the media) since coming to power in 2008.
While a bash for the IT-BT crowd at the Oberoi cost the government Rs 7,03,099 (75 pax), and a party in honour of an outgoing chief justice of the high court cost Rs 5,58,000 (pax 120), the get-together for journalists last June at the Nalapad Pavilion hotel was the most expensive do, at Rs 11,04,775 (pax 1,500).
Keeping the journalists in good humour at these 14 parties has cost the BJP government Rs 20,21,924 since it came to power three years ago.
Incidentally, Kannada Prabha reports, tongue firmly in cheek, that Nalapad Pavilion does not have sitting space for the 1,500 people that are alleged to have attended the grand fete.
***
Below: The breakup of the other official parties hosted by the chief minister during his tenure, obtained by Vinayak Bhat Mooroor using RTI.
Images: courtesy Kannada Prabha
Also read: Why you didn’t see this picture in the papers today
churumuri 
Per Capita bill of Rs. 4000. Rs 5000.. Are these common now in India? Or this “baddi makkalu” are snacking on truffles.
“vidhAna soudhakke Ane kaLisi ivaranna tuLisabEku”
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Doesn’t the Kannada Prabha office have a scanner?
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Did you note the reference to Vidhan Soudha Banquet Hall. It written as BLANKET HALL in one in english and as ‘Banket hall’ in kannada.
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Prime Editors of Kannada and English?? What is that??!!
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Bangalore’s hotels are very “flexible”. If Leela Palace Grand Ball room which has a tolal capacity of 400 setascould accommodate 3,000 guests for Infosys Chairman Narayana Murthy’s son’s wedding reception lunch, anything is possible by the city’s hospitality industry
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@M
Thanks for shedding light on the ‘Blanket hall’ mystery. I kept wondering what it was… :D
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What we really should be thinking about is how to make the BJP clowns reimburse the state treasury. Every single press meet mentioned was blatant political propaganda. We might also ask why our journalists accept invitations to such corruptive events. Some of them pay no attention to what is said at a given press conference. They still file their reports. They look at the names of the prominent people on the program and tell us they were present even when they were clearly invisible.
The breakfast, lunch, supper, or whatever at such gatherings must be phenomenally alluring.
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BJP corporators in Bangalore ar grooming rowdy elements and macking life of the families staying in Rajajinagar hell. Under these corporators lot coruuption and unnecessery breaking good pavements and spending. All this money goes to Corporator right hands who have come rowdys by threatining public.
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