Blaming Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders for the incidents of communal unrest reported in coastal Karnataka in recent times, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the “conspiracy” hatched by that party to come to power in the State would not succeed. He was speaking an a ‘Sadhana Sambhrama’ programme in Sagar here.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said during his recent visits to the State, BJP national president Amit Shah had directed the party functionaries to rake up communal issues and divide the people on the lines of religion. He said BJP leaders tried to incite violence over the death of a youth in Honnavar and the other similar incident reported near Surathkal more recently. “The State government deplores these killings and is committed to arresting the culprits. It is unfortunate that the BJP leaders are trying to draw political mileage from these deaths,” he said.
Deploring the views expressed by Union Minister Anantkumar Hegde on changing the Constitution and also the statements issued by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Hubballi recently on Tipu Jayanti celebrations, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the behaviour of both Mr. Hegde and Mr. Adityanath was against the pluralist cultural tradition of Karnataka.
Hailing Shivamogga district as home to many land reform movements and progressive struggles, he called upon the people of the district not to support the BJP as its leaders had “scant regard” for the principles of social justice and the concept of inclusive economic growth.
Mr. Siddaramaiah also claimed that the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had seen a sharp decline in recent times owing to his government’s failure to address the problems faced by the common man. The performance of the BJP-led NDA alliance at the Centre on poverty alleviation and job creation is poor, he said, adding that the State’s BJP leaders were under an “illusion” that they can coast on the so-called popularity of Mr. Modi and come to power here.
On the contrary, he continued, the Congress government has launched a slew of welfare programmes for the poor and the downtrodden. He claimed that of the 165 promises that figured in the Congress manifesto for the previous Assembly elections, 155 had been fulfilled.
On the occasion, title deeds were distributed to the families displaced over the Sharavathi hydro-electric project and to the poor families that had submitted application for regularisation of their houses under Sections 94 CC and 94 C of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act.
Mr. Siddaramaiah also inaugurated a number of development programmes. He addressed Sadhana Sambhrama conventions in Tirthahalli and Shivamogga as well.
