CM sends legislators to foreign tours to save his chair, says BJP State president Vijayendra

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is sending Congress legislators on foreign tours, only to appease them and save his chair, B.Y. Vijayendra, BJP State president, said here on Thursday.

All the Congress MLAs were upset with the Chief Minister for not releasing funds for development of various assembly constituencies, and that is why he is sending them on foreign tours, Mr. Vijayendra said.

“This is the most shameless government in the history of Karnataka. This is not what I am saying, this is what the people are saying. Mr. Siddaramaiah wants to protect his power at any cost. He has declared that the government is not funding the trip and that they were going at their own expense. It is clear that the Chief Minister is funding the trip. All this shows what the priorities of the government are,” Mr. Vijayendra said.

B.L. Santosh, BJP national organising secretary, Union Ministers and others will speak at the State BJP executive meeting in Bengaluru on February 19. “Apart from organisational issues, the meeting will discuss ways to counter the Congress government in Karnataka. We will discuss issues like fielding candidates in Greater Bengaluru Authority, and other urban bodies and rural bodies. We will also share information on the achievements of the Union government and the failures of the State government,” he said.

The government headed by Mr. Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar has failed in providing effective governance and in implementing development schemes. They are only going around saying they have kept their word to the people, but are indifferent to the problems of the people. No legislator is happy as the funds for constituencies have dried up. Even basic facilities like Ganga Kalyan scheme have been neglected. Over 2.85 lakh government jobs are vacant. Over 1.4 lakh students have not got admission in government hostels. What is more, the Chief Minister who claims to be the champion of the backward classes has failed to release compensation for the deaths of cattle in the State, Mr. Vijayendra said.

He said that the power tussle between Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar was damaging the party. It seems the Chief Minister is sacrificing the interests of the State to save his chair. This cannot be denied. There is no development, the State government has failed to create jobs. They are doing injustice to all communities, he said.

Mr. Vijayendra alleged that the Congress government had diverted ₹5,000 crore meant for poor women under the Gruha Laxmi scheme to fund elections in other States. He alleged that women and child welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar was involved in large-scale irregularities like releasing money to non-existent beneficiaries and diverting Gruha Laxmi funds to the Congress high command to fight polls.

“We will not keep quiet. We will keep raising this issue,” he said.

Earlier at a party workers’ meet, Mr. Vijayendra said that the Congress government in Karnataka was relying on guarantee schemes as it had failed to develop the State. The Congress has been in power in the State for most part of its history. But it has failed to develop it properly. The recent Govind Rao report says that regional imbalance has increased compared to earlier periods and that northern Karnataka still lags behind. Congress has taken shelter under the guarantee schemes only because it has failed to govern properly and develop the State, he said.

On Wednesday, Mr. Vijayendra and others congratulated Prabhakar Kore, KLE society chairman, for being selected for the Padmasri award.