MP and former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai alleged that in their fight for the Chair, the Congress leaders in the State had forgotten the real issues affecting the public.
Speaking to presspersons in Bagalkot on Saturday, Mr. Bommai said while dinner politics was the internal matter of the Congress, what was a matter of concern was that issues of public interest like fiscal deficit, collapse of law and order, atrocities on Dalits, non-payment of scholarships and others, had been pushed to the side.
Rather than addressing public issues for which they were elected, the leaders were engrossed in their fight totally neglecting the plight of the people, he said.
On Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s temple run and the ‘shaky’ Chief Minister’s chair, Mr. Bommai said it was unfortunate that the developments indicated total neglect of people’s issues.
He said the State’s fiscal position had deteriorated as ₹54,000 crore had been spent on guarantee schemes, leaving no funds for other development work. The hike in prices of milk, water, alcohol, stamp paper, motor vehicles, petrol, and diesel, imposing a tax burden of ₹40,000 crore on the public, indicated financial bankruptcy of the State government, Mr. Bommai said.
To a query on allegation of the State not being given its due share of tax allocation, Mr. Bommai said the Congress leaders were blaming the Centre to cover up their failure. To another query over dissidence in the BJP, he said there were no major issues and the high command had addressed it. The issue of party leader K.S. Eshwarappa forming the Rayanna brigade again would also be handled by the senior leaders, he added.
On whether the party was doing damage control by organising Constitution honour programme, Mr. Bommai clarified that the programme had nothing do with Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement on B.R. Ambedkar. “Both are unrelated. The programme is part of the celebration to mark 75 years of the Constitution. The programme series started on November 26,” he said.
Published – January 11, 2025 08:16 pm IST