MLAs fed up with Congress eager to join BJP: Yeddyurappa

Bharatiya Janata Party’s State unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa has said that many leaders in the Congress, including several MLAs, who were fed up with the internal developments in their party and unsatisfied with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s way of functioning, were keen on joining his party.

He hinted that they all would officially join the BJP in the presence of his party’s national president Amit Shah during the latter’s visit to the State. He was addressing media conference in Raichur on Saturday.

To a question, Mr. Yeddyurappa said that his party was in constant touch with Congress veteran Srinivas Prasad, who recently resigned as member of the Legislative Assembly. But, he did not say anything specific on the possibility of Mr. Prasad joining the BJP.

“Mr. Srinivas Prasad has come out of the Congress as he knew that the Congress was a sinking ship. We are in touch with him. But, I cannot say anything about the possibility of his joining the BJP. It is true that many Congress leaders are eager to join the BJP. We will accept them and, at the same time, take enough care to ensure that no injustice is meted out to those serving in the party for a long time now,” he said.

‘Government dead’

Mr. Yeddyurappa criticised the State government stating that the government was dead for the people in distress. He specifically criticised the government for its “failure” in disbursing compensation to farmers who lost their crops to droughts and floods. “A hundred taluks have been declared drought-hit. But, not a single rupee has been released for taking up relief work. The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister himself accepted that a large amount of funds released for drinking water projects were unnecessarily kept in banks by officials. Instead of utilising properly the funds provided by the Union government, the State government is pointing its finger at the Centre,” he said.