Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah slams govt over handling of floods

BAGALKOT:  Venting his ire against the BJP government, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah on Sunday asserted, “The district in-charge ministers are confined to taking part in the celebration of national festivals and are least bothered about the flood situation in their respective districts.”

While taking part in a religious ceremony in Jamkhandi on Sunday, Siddaramaiah said, “Even after five days of Guledagudda and Badami recording the highest rainfall of 100 mm and 92 mm, respectively, and being hit by floods – the district in-charge minister has not visited the flood-hit areas. They have limited themselves to participating in national festivals.”

Taking a dig at Minister for Large and Medium-Scale Industries Murugesh Nirani, Siddaramaiah alleged, “Nirani is busy acquiring land of innocent farmers. He is on foreign tours, instead of responding to the problems of flood-affected people. Though there are two cabinet ministers in the state, none of them bothered to address the grievances of the flood-affected region.”

“Janaspandana means responding to the people. However, the BJP leaders seem to have disappeared. Is this the way they respond to the people in floods? Is this called Janaspandana,” asked Siddaramaiah.
“As many as 18 out of 31 districts have been affected by floods in the last four months. Farmers await compensation at the earliest. Because of heavy showers, thousands of hectares of crops lay damaged, houses have partially or fully collapsed, and roads are in a bad state. Instead of addressing these issues, the ministers are busy dancing at rallies,” he chided.

“I am perplexed why the BJP is raising issues of the Congress regime, which was at the helm between 2013 and 2018 in the state. Even they were in the Opposition, when we were in power. Why were they silent for three long years,” he asked.