Ahead of local body elections in the State former Chief Minister and lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa has come down heavily on the Congress Government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Yeddyurappa after getting court clearances from almost all the notification and corruption cases, is making right noises and looking ahead to consolidate himself politically to lead the party.
Yeddyurappa spoke to reporters at Kalburgi in north Karnataka on Thursday and came down heavily on Siddaramaiah and said “the Government has failed on all fronts.”
Yeddyurappa criticised the Government for its failure to handling the State economy and tackle drought, failing to provide any relief to people in North Karnataka who have suffered due to dry season.
He said the Government was also pushing Karnataka to a debt trap by drawing heavy credits from various sources, but failed to bring down the debt burden.
He said, “the Karnataka Government is on the verge of bankruptcy. The Government has not been releasing compensation to the kin of the farmers who had committed suicide. Even Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa himself had said several times that the Government was ‘drowsing’ which itself indicated the way Government was functioning.''
In his comeback bid to State politics Yeddyurappa harps on Siddaramaiah Government Saying that the Congress Government in Karnataka had not lived up to the expectations of the people and predicted that Congress party is set to face a debacle in the coming Zilla and Taluk Panchayat elections.
''We have seen all round failure of the Siddaramaiah Government in Karnataka and this will be reflected in the coming elections. This is the reason why the State Government is trying to postpone the ZP and TP elections,'' he alleged.
The former Chief Minister alleged that the administration had come to a 'stand still' in the State due to an 'inept Government' and people will teach the Congress leaders, who were too complacent and not bothered about welfare of the State as well as its people, in the near future.
He also blamed Siddaramaiah for not responding to the demands of the farming community which is facing a distress. He said while farmers suffered due to serious problems of crop failure and un remunerative price for their produce. He said while the Centre was ready to help the Government and committed to release over `1500 crore to bring succour to loss ridden farmers, the State Government had failed to spend any funds from its kitty to bring immediate relief to the farming class.
This was the reason that Karnataka was witnessing one of the highest cases of farmers committing suicide, he alleged. The BJP leader said the Government had failed to utilize budgetary funds through the Government boasted of a big State budget as spending of budgetary allocations remained tardy and most funds were unspent.
''When BJP Government in Karnataka was in place, there was no such problems and the administration was right on track. But it has come to a stand-still now,'' he alleged.
The performance of a Government will be based on the allocated budget funds being spent for State's progress and peoples' welfare. But the current Government has failed to perform on both counts, he added.
He said due to its shortcomings the Government was trying to postpone the elections which were already scheduled. ''This Government should also be held responsible for committing mistakes on its reservation policy for grass roots level elections. BJP is opposed to such moves and demanded that the Government to hold the election as scheduled.