Bengaluru: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah on Monday demanded Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to give details on the spending of funds allocated by the Central Government.
“It has become a habit for Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to blame the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for not allocating funds for developmental works in the state. I demand Siddaramaiah to tell the people of Karnataka on how he has spent the funds allocated by the Central government,’’ Amit Shah told reporters.
The BJP national president said that Karnataka was allocated Rs 88,583 crore by the 13th Finance Commission during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime while 14th Finance Commission allocated Rs 2,19,506 crore during the NDA regime. “Besides this, the Central government released Rs 79,036 crore for various developmental works in the state. Let the chief minister explain the people of Karnataka on how these funds were spent or where has the money gone?’’ he said.
Most corrupt govt
Coming down heavily on Siddaramaiah government for rampant corruption in the state, the BJP national president has described Siddaramaiah government as the most corrupt government in the country. “This government has no shame. It has failed to seek the resignations of corrupt ministers. I have not seen this type of corrupt government after country got Independence. There is no law and order in the state. Around 20 RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and BJP activists were killed in the state. This government has withdrawn the cases against the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) activists,’’ he said.
On Hindi issue
Amit Shah has criticized Siddaramaiah for raking up the issue of usage of Hindi signage at Namma Metro. “What was he doing all these years? Why has he raked up Hindu issue when the Assembly elections are a few months away? What do you call this other than political opportunism?’’ he asks.
On BJP strategy
He said the BJP, under the leadership of B.S. Yeddyurappa, is set to rom home with a huge majority in the next Assembly elections. “We have already announced that Yeddyurappa will be the next chief minister and the BJP will go to people seeking their votes under his leadership,’’ he said.
Slip of tongue
Yeddyurappa was in a dilemma when BJP national president mentioned his name instead of Siddaramaiah’s name. Amit Shah was supposed to blame Siddaramaiah for making baseless allegations against the Centre for its alleged non-cooperation for the developmental projects in Karnataka. Instead of mentioning Siddaramaiah, the BJP national president said that Yeddyurappa has been blaming the NDA government for its non-cooperation to Karnataka.
At this juncture, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar prompted him to correct the goof up. “I am extremely sorry. It happened because I was with Yeddyurappa ji for the last three days. I am sorry. I meant Siddaramaiah and not Yeddyurappa,’’ he said.
Rejects Cong demand
BJP chief Amit Shah on Monday rejected the Congress’s demand for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s resignation over the Gorakhpur hospital tragedy, saying incidents like these happen in a big country like India. “It is Congress’s job to ask for resignation. In a big country like India, there have been many such incidents in the past. This is not the first time,” Shah said.
Defending Adityanath’s direction on Janmashtami celebrations, Shah said the festival is about people’s personal belief. “Janmashtami is at its own place. People of UP will also celebrate the way it will be celebrated in other states. It’s a festival of personal belief, it is not a government festival,” he said.
