Former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna who recently joined the BJP has described the State government under Congress as the “worst in the last 55 years” and said “it was lacking in vision for the future of Karnataka.”
Mr. Krishna said here today “I have seen many Chief Ministers from the time of K.C. Reddy to Kengal Hanumanthaiah and had witnessed the administrative acumen of Diwans like Arcot Ramaswamy earlier. But by far this is the worst government I have ever seen in my political life,” he added without directly mentioning Mr. Siddaramaiah. “If one considers various parameters of governance to assess a government, this qualifies as one without a long-term vision for Karnataka,” he felt.
Mr. Krishna went on to say that government and governance is a full-time job and not which functions from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. “In contrast, look at the functioning style of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who can be found in the South Block past midnight despite being on fast since the last nine days.” If only Karnataka had a leadership fired by a vision like Mr. Modi and had the political will, the State would have been a happening place and not stagnating as it was now, he felt.
Asked to substantiate his accusation that the present government lacked vision, Mr. Krishna referred to his tenure as Chief Minister from 1999 to 2004 and said despite stiff competition from Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka emerged as the Silicon Valley of India and that was his achievement. “I interacted with greatest minds and technocrats like Azim Premji of Wipro and Narayan Murthy of Infosys and by early 2000 Bengaluru emerged as the IT hub and this is my greatest achievement. Besides, I introduced midday meal programme as part of my vision,” said Mr. Krishna.
Asked if his criticism of the State government as lacking in vision also applied to the Congress at the national level, he said the party was nowhere in the national scene and one had to literally search for it.
He also brushed aside the criticism of Congress leaders who had accused him of betrayal and said “I am not hankering for power nor wish to get elected as an MP from other States.”
BJP candidate from Nanjangud constituency V. Srinivas Prasad, BJP leaders including Shobha Karandlaje, R. Ashok, and V. Somanna, and others were present.
