Shobha Karandlaje, MP, has alleged that the State government is not spending Central funds. Addressing workers and leaders at the party’s district executive committee meeting here on Saturday, she also raised doubts about the misuse of funds.
After Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister, he had increased the annual funds released to the State by Rs. 25,000 crore. However, the State government was not spending it properly. It was not even distributing crop loss relief to farmers who suffered drought or floods, she said. Ms. Karandlaje alleged that the money was “rotting” with deputy commissioners as the government had not given proper guidelines to them on how to spend it. This was despite the fact that the Prime Minister released Rs. 1,520 crore in two days after BJP leaders asked for it, he said.
She also alleged that some Congress leaders were diverting rice meant for distribution among the poor and “selling it to Amma canteens in the neighbouring State”.
Reacting to Congress leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge’s charge that the Centre was not releasing money for Railway projects in the State, Ms. Karandlaje said that the senior leader should ask Mr. Siddharamaiah to release the State’s share of the cost of the projects first. She, however, did not mention Mr. Kharge’s name.
The Congress government was punishing whistle-blowers. An officer who uncovered a Rs. 2500-crore scam in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike had been transferred 20 times in less than two years. The government was misusing the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to close files of sensitive cases and give clean chit to leaders accused of serious crimes, she said. Ms. Karandlaje alleged that the State had transferred the D.K Ravi case to the Central Bureau of Investigation after allowing CID officers to destroy all evidence. People of the State have no faith in the government. They want change, she said. Even Congress MLAs were upset with the performance of the government, the BJP leader added.
