Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah has said that corruption has become rampant at all levels of administration under the Congress rule in the State.
He was addressing a convention held as part of BJP’s Parivartana Yatra in Holalkere town on Wednesday.
Referring to the allegations of illegal de-notification of land in the Arkavathy Layout in Bengaluru, he said that the State government had tried to hush up the case without conducting proper investigation.
He said that yielding to pressure exerted from the Opposition parties, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had to declare an expensive wristwatch he had received as gift from a businessman as State asset. It is apparent that the wristwatch was presented to Mr. Siddaramaiah for illegal favours he had extended to the businessman.
By allowing D.K. Shivakumar to continue in the Ministry after his premises were raided by Income Tax sleuths, Mr. Siddaramaiah has set a bad precedence. Mr. Shah accused Mr. Siddaramaiah of large-scale irregularities in the implementation of Anna Bhagya, the Congress government’s flagship scheme.
Mr. Shah said that after BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government came to power at the Centre, more than ₹ three lakh crore has been sanctioned as financial grant to the State under various heads, including ₹ 2.19 lakh crore sanctioned as 14th Finance Commission grants and ₹ 79,000 crore sanctioned for development works and welfare schemes here.
He expressed the displeasure that owing to corruption prevailing in various rungs of administration, the State government has failed to make proper utilisation of funds. He said that the Chief Minister should make public the utilisation of funds sanctioned by the Centre.
He alleged that the incidents of farmers committing suicide have increased in the State after the Congress government came to power. People are upset with the misrule of the Congress and they will teach a lesson to the party in the forthcoming Assembly elections, he added.
Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for Human Resource Development and in-charge of the party’s election preparations in the State, P. Muralidhar Rao, party’s national general secretary and in-charge of the party State unit, B.S. Yeddyurappa, president of the State unit, Jagadish Shettar, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, and K.S. Eshwarappa, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, were present.
