Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday continued his attack on Bharatiya Janata Party leaders for their provocative speeches with an intention to spreading communal tension after their party’s national president Amit Shah’s recent visit to the State, and also for targeting him with unparliamentary words at their public functions.
He was addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone for a ₹ 109-crore project in Hunsagi town in Surpur taluk of Yadgir district.
Mr. Siddaramaiah repeatedly criticised B.S. Yeddyurappa, former Chief Minister and BJP State president, for saying that there was no progress in the State and the financial position had become the worst under the Congress dispensation.
“As much as ₹ 2,500 crore was released to Hyderabad Karnataka Region Development Board (HKRDB) from 2013 to 2016 for development works and of this money, ₹ 1,800 crore had already been spent. It has been decided to increase the annual grant from ₹ 1,000 crore to ₹ 1,500 crore, as requested by the former Union Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge, in the next budget,” he said.
Drinking water, sanitation, construction of roads, and other civic facilities would be taken up for the welfare of the people in the backward region, as committed to by the government earlier, he added.
‘Baseless allegations’
“The BJP government, under Mr. Yeddyurappa, had nothing done for the people. However, Mr. Yeddyurappa is making baseless allegations against me on corruption. The people should understand that the BJP leaders are making attempts to spread falsehood against the State government,” he said.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Achhe Din and Mann Ki Baat, the Chief Minister asked the people: Where is Acche Din? Has anybody experienced Acche Din as promised by the Prime Minister? Hundreds of people died waiting outside banks after demonetisation. “The Modi government only believes in Mann Ki Baat but we believe in Kaam Ki Baat as we have fulfilled 155 assurances (out of the 165) we made in our election manifesto,” he said.
Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil said that the government had implemented several irrigation projects by spending ₹ 2,346 crore in Yadgir district.
Of this sum, ₹ 1,530 crore was spent in Surpur taluk alone, he added.
Earlier, talking to reporters at the helipad, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that five petitions have been sent to the State Minorities Commission as Lingayat and Veerashaiva community leaders did not come to him in unity.
To a question, he replied that a meeting would be held in Bengaluru on December 31 to discuss on sending a proposal to the Union government about the implementation of the A.J. Sadashiva Commission report.
Minster T.B. Jayachandra will hold a meeting with officials to finalise minimum support price for red gram, as the Union government had already fixed ₹ 5,450 per quintal of red gram, he said.
