State government a puppet of Rahul Gandhi, says Joshi

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has become a puppet in the hands of the Congress high command, State Bharatiya Janata Party president Pralhad Joshi has said. Addressing a meeting of the BJP district unit here on Tuesday, he expressed displeasure over the style of functioning of Mr. Siddaramaiah.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was controlling the State government through the party in-charge of Karnataka Digvijay Singh. The Congress leaders are not allowing Mr. Siddaramaiah to discharge his functions independently, he said.

He alleged that development work in the State has come to a standstill after Mr. Siddaramaiah assumed charge. The State government has failed to come to rescue of the farmers who suffered loss this year due to natural calamities. Even the Congress MLAs were unhappy with the performance of the State government. There were serious differences between Mr. Siddaramaiah and president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee G. Parameshwara.

The failure of the Congress government in the State to address the problems faced by the common people will prove dear for the party in the Lok Sabha election. He said that the Congress rule in the State will end soon owing to differences among its leaders.

Referring to the irregularities in the allocation of 2G Spectrum and coal blocks under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre, he said that the people were disillusioned with the UPA rule. The Congress leaders’ irregular practices were responsible for the party’s political debacle in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, he said.

On the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s announcement that he will return to the BJP, he said that the State BJP leaders were happy with the development.