Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) floor leader in the Assembly and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Thursday criticised the Governor for what he described as volte-face in his address to the joint session of the legislature and objected to the statement made on the law and order situation under the previous government.
Speaking on the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address, Mr. Shettar asked how could the Governor, who praised the law and order situation and fiscal discipline under the BJP government “just three months” ago, change his stand now. The credibility of the Governor’s position was at stake, he said.
However, Ramesh Kumar (Congress) said that Governor had voiced government’s stand as was the convention, and the Chief Minister would reply to the Opposition’s criticism in his response
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Seeking an explanation from the government for accusing the BJP regime of not following fiscal discipline, he sought to know how the government could announce welfare programmes worth thousands of crores if there was any substance in the allegation.
Criticising the government for deferring the scheme of providing rice at Re 1 a kg to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families by a month, Mr. Shettar said that, Mr. Siddaramaiah had announced the programme in a hurry without ascertaining whether the Centre would support his announcement or not.
When Mr. Shettar criticised the Centre for not allocating funds, ruling party members pointed at the inability of the BJP government to utilise huge funds released under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa, who intervened and asked Mr. Shettar what prevented the latter from implementing MNREGA in the last five years.
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