Chief Minister Siddaramaiah turns tables on BJP over ‘chargesheet’

BENGALURU: Criticising the ongoing ‘Save Bengaluru’ campaign by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that in a stroke of irony, the campaign was being carried out by those who had turned Bengaluru into a ‘garbage city’.  “Whenever we take up development work, I dont know why they (BJP) smell bribes. I think they have  a special nose designed for that.”

On Saturday, the CM along with former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, released ‘’Nava Karnataka Vision 2025’’ document. Speaking on the occasion, Siddaramaiah said that Karnataka was leading in several sectors. “There were more poor in Karnataka compared to our neighbouring states in 2013. I am happy that we are heading towards bringing down this number,’’ he said.

His talk was peppered with potshots at the BJP. “When we introduced 7 kg of rice per person under Anna Bhagya scheme, these (BJP) leaders said we are making people lazy. In reality, these BJP leaders’ stomachs are full and they don’t know the troubles of hunger,’’ he said.  

Further, Siddaramiah charged that they (BJP) alleged that Congress government had made Karnataka a crime state. “We are ranked 10th as per the National Crime Record Bureau when it comes to crime. States that scored first to ninth rank are governed by BJP. The NDA government has allotted `54,000 crore for SC/ST schemes out of their total outlay of `24 lakh crore. We in Karnataka  alone have allotted `28,000 crore out of our total `2 lakh crore budget. We have allotted more funds for SCs and STs, but BJP leaders claim they are pro-SC/ST and shed crocodile tears for them,’’ he added.

On the budget presentation, Siddaramiah said he was Finance Minister in 1994 and since then, he has presented 13 budgets and worked under five CMs. “I have seen them closely, I know how many of their manifestos were implemented. We had made 165 assurances before facing the 2013 Assembly elections, of which 155 are fulfilled. For construction of Nava Karnataka , we have laid the foundation and there is so much to do in the coming days. I have released the document and I will be CM to implement the same,’’ he said.  “We have a vision, that is why we have released the ‘Vision 2025’ document. This is not a chargesheet like the one released recently,’’ he said hinting at the chargesheet released by the BJP.

‘Population growth is a nightmare’
Population growth in India is a nightmare and this is the biggest challenge in implementing the vision document, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday. “While population in southern states is either declining or stable, there is growth in economy. Whereas in the the northern states, population is growing fast, but not the economy. This will lead people from North India to shift to South and Karnataka will be the magnet. When they come to Karnataka , Bengaluru in particular, the diversity will be misused to divide people by certain political systems. This will lead to communal distraction and one should not allow such people to come to power,’’ he said, indirectly taunting the BJP.