Lambasting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not co-operating with the government for facilitating a constructive debate on issues concerning north Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reiterated that the State government was committed to the development of the region.
In his response to the discussion in the Legislative Council here on Saturday, the Chief Minister announced that Special Development Programme (SDP) for the region would be pursued with a focussed approach.
Criticising BJP members, who were protesting in the well of the House at the time of his reply, he said that while the BJP’s former Union Minister L.K. Advani rejected the S.M. Krishna government’s resolution seeking special status to Hyderabad-Karnataka (HK), it was the UPA government that had accorded it special status. He accused the Union government of being “anti-farmer”, mentioning how the Centre had refused to extend assistance to the State which had announced Minimum Support Price (MSP) for maize.
He said the State government had already announced a special additional package of Rs. 400 crore for the development of HK region. Projects would be taken up immediately, apart from filling up of government posts giving due reservation to candidates of backward regions.
The Chief Minister said that as per the SDP chalked out on the basis of recommendations from the Nanjundappa Committee, a total of Rs. 16,000 crore would be spent for the development of HK region in coming years.
