With the Lok Sabha polls approaching, politicians have begun sparring to claim credit for various government projects in the State.
Leaders in the BJP, the ruling party at the Centre, and those in the Congress-Janata Dal (S) coalition in the State are in no mood to let their rivals walk away with the credit for projects, most of which have been taken up with the involvement of both the State and the Centre at some stage.
Recently, BJP leader and MP Pratap Simha set off a round of debate over the widening of the busy Bengaluru-Mysuru highway with a tweet giving full credit to the Centre. “It’s a ₹7,000-crore project, not even 7 paisa from Kar Govt! It will be completed in 24 months,” he tweeted.
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But Congress leader H.C. Mahadevappa, who was Minister for Public Works in the previous Congress government in the State, sought to clarify that the project had been conceived several years ago by the State government, which even carried out a road traffic census in terms of passenger car units and a survey on land acquisition. Also, he said, the road was upgraded from State Highway to National Highway during the rule of the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre.
Suburban rail
Similarly, both the BJP and the Congress are claiming credit for initiating the long-pending suburban train project in Bengaluru.
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On February 1 this year, it was announced in the Union Budget that a suburban network of approximately 160 km was being planned for Bengaluru at an estimated cost of ₹17,000 crore.
Just a day earlier, the State Cabinet had given administrative approval to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and set aside ₹350 crore for the project as 20% equity to take up the first phase of the project at a cost of ₹1,745 crore. The fine print of the Union Budget revealed that though the speech said a total of 17,000 crore would be spent, only a token allocation of ₹1 crore had been made for 2018-19. This prompted the Congress to claim credit for initiating the project and accuse the BJP of paying lip service.
However, Bengaluru City MPs belonging to the BJP are claiming credit for bringing the project to the city. P.C. Mohan, MP for Bengaluru Central, has been particularly vocal in his campaign for suburban trains.
Another project that finds itself in the eye of a storm is the first flyover in Mysuru city, built at a cost of ₹24 crore and now ready for inauguration. While ₹9.2 crore was contributed from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the State government pitched in with ₹4.15 crore. About ₹10 crore was borne by the Mysore Urban Development Authority.
Though Minister for Higher Education G.T. Deve Gowda, who is in charge of the district, was keen to have the flyover inaugurated by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy during his recent visit to the city, Mr. Simha objected to the inauguration without Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, being present. According to MUDA officials, the date for inauguration will have to be fixed in consultation with both the State and the Centre.
Precedence
Interestingly, the Congress and the BJP were involved in a race to claim credit for the Kalaburagi-Bidar railway line and the Kadechur rail coach factory in Yadgir ahead of the Assembly elections this year. The Congress saw red when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the project in October last year, apparently sidelining Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who had also reportedly contributed to the project during his tenure as Railway Minister.
(With additional inputs by Kumar Buradikatti from Kalaburagi)