In an effort to reach out to the urban poor, Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including B.S. Yeddyurappa, stayed in some slums of the State on Saturday.
Senior leaders Jagadish Shettar and K.S. Eshwarappa slept in slums in Hubballi and Shivamogga respectively.
As part of its outreach, the Congress government had launched Indira Canteen for the urban poor.
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Mr. Yeddyurappa spent the night in an auto-rickshaw driver’s house in Lakshamanapuri slum in Gandhinagar and held a meeting with slum-dwellers. Houseowner Muniraju said Mr. Yeddyurappa had dinner with them.
‘Slum Daurbhagya’
The BJP also released a socio-economic survey of slums in the State, called ‘Slum Daurbhagya’ (slum misfortune), punning on the Bhagya schemes of the Siddaramaiah government.
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According to the survey, a majority of slums do not have public toilets, schools, anganwadis and sufficient water. Of the 2,804 slums with 40.5 lakh population across the State, the survey was conducted in 976 slums. The survey found that of the 976 slums, 450 were represented by the BJP, 402 by Congress, 210 by the JD(S), and 110 by others.
Mr. Yeddyurappa claimed that during the BJP’s tenure, much work was done for the slum dwellers and thousands of houses were built for them. But the sector was completely neglected during the Congress tenure, he alleged.
CM sees it as an election stunt
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tweeted: “I welcome the slum stay programme of BJP though it is an election stunt. I hope with this experience at least BJP learns a lesson and put pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement at the national level, what we have in the state: SC/ST Sub Plan.”