Karnataka govt. raising non-issues to mislead public from real problems, alleges H.D. Kumaraswamy

Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy has alleged that the Congress government in Karnataka was raising non-issues to divert people’s attention from its failures as a ruling party.

In a press conference in Hassan on Friday, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the people in power had been “hovering in the sky”. They should come down to the ground to understand the realities and respond to the people’s problems; the five-guarantee schemes alone would not resolve all the issues that had been troubling the poor farmers, the Union Minister said.

Stating that he had the confidence in the people of the State, Mr. Kumaraswamy said no matter how badly the people in power function, the common people had the strength to fill up the State’s exchequer. Even after spending money for the guarantee schemes, the government could give attention to the development works, he added. “The present government has been looting money from the people’s pockets by increasing taxes. I had demanded that the government release a white paper on the utilisation of tax money. However, the government did not respond,” he stated.

Taking exception to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s statement on the discrimination against legislators of Opposition parties, Mr. Kumaraswamy said he was ready for an open debate on the release of funds for development works during Mr. Siddaramaiah’s tenure. “When I came to power leading the JD(S)-Congress coalition in 2018, I gave ₹19,000 crore for Congress MLAs, even after waiving off the farm loans. I gave these details to Mr. Siddaramaiah then,” he said.

Reacting to a question on the allegations of the contractors’ association, the Union Minister said that the accusation of corruption was true and there was no doubt in that. “The Congress came to power making allegations against the PayCM campaign by the BJP. Have they been able to bring out the truth about any corruption? They constituted a commission to probe, which did not come out with the specifics, except for stating that there was corruption,” Mr. Kumaraswamy said.

Referring to the issue of restricting the activities of RSS in government-owned places, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the State government gave so much importance to the issue only to hide their failures. “They cannot ban the RSS. Now, in the Cabinet, they have taken a decision that permission is necessary for the private organisation to hold programmes. Was it necessary? When Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi, the RSS was banned. However, Jawaharlal Nehru himself removed the ban later. What is the purpose of raising the issue now? They raise it only to create rifts and mislead the public from the real problems,” he stated.

Responding to a question on vote theft in the Aland constituency, Mr. Kumaraswamy wanted to know how Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar could predict that his party would win 136 seats before the elections. “Actually, they are the ones who stole the votes. But now, they are blaming others. If there was vote theft in Aland, how could a Congress candidate win in the constituency?” he asked. In the case of the Dharmasthala issue, Mr. Kumaraswamy said, the government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe based on a requisition from three people. “What did the SIT do? They only arrested Chinnaiah, the whistleblower. What about the rest, who created the issue? They are all roaming free,” he stated.

Regarding the Social and Educational Survey, Mr. Kumaraswamy remarked that whatever was going on in the State was not the real caste census. “It is actually the Siddaramaiah census,” he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy was in Hassan with his family members to visit the Hasanamba Temple. JD(S) legislators and party leaders accompanied him to the press conference.

Expressing his views on farmers’ demands in the State, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that both the ruling party and the Opposition parties failed in completing their duties, leaving the farmers disappointed.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the Congress government failed to address the problems of the farmers, who were hit by floods recently. “At the same time, the Opposition parties — our partners — had the duty of alerting the ruling government. But, I believe they did not function in tune with the expectations of the farmers,” he said.

The JD(S) leader said that the only major issue being discussed in the State for last two months was the possible change in leadership in the Congress government. “It is enough. You have spent two-and-half-years without responding to people’s real issues. Focus on them at least now,” he added.