CM ‘misusing power’, says Yeddyurappa

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State unit president B. S. Yeddyurappa said on Monday that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was making plans to lay foundation stones to 519 developmental projects worth Rs. 2,468 crore in North Karnataka just three months ahead of Assembly polls only to influence voters. Terming this as “misuse of power”, he questioned whether the Chief Minister was in “a state of sound sleep” thus far. He was addressing a media conference at Aiwan-e-Shahi guest house here as part of his State-wide poll campaign rally, Parivartana Yatra. Alleging that the State’s financial situation worsened during the last five years, Mr. Yeddyurappa said that the government was not in a position even to pay incentives to milk producers and salaries to elected representatives. "The government has borrowed Rs. 970 crore by pledging corner sites in Bengaluru and withdrawn Rs. 1,400 crore deposits in nationalised banks. Despite having borrowed Rs. 1.75 lakh loans from different financial institutions and received sufficient funds from the 14th Finance Commission, the government could not improve the State’s financial condition.” Referring to the relative backwardness of Hyderabad Karnataka region and special status attached to it under Article 371(J) of the Constitution, the former Chief Minister alleged that government did little to improve the situation. “In the last four years, the government had allocated Rs. 4,650 crore as special grants to HKRDB [Hyderabad Karnataka Regional Development Board], but released only Rs. 2,350 crore of which only Rs. 1,337 crore has been spent so far," he said. To a question, Mr. Yeddyurappa responded that choosing candidates in the upcoming Assembly polls would solely be based on public opinion. “The party’s national leadership has already got a survey done. It is planning to have two more surveys. I will separately get another survey done. These exercises help us identify a suitable candidate who enjoys more public support in a particular constituency and has more chances of winning,” he said adding that the party's national president Amit Shah had vested all powers on him in finalising candidatures for all 224 constituencies. He announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would participate in a mass meeting to be organised in the last week of January next year in Bengaluru to mark the culmination of Parivartana Yatra. Former Ministers Govind M. Karjol and Revu Naik Belamagi, Bidar Lok Sabha member Bhagwant Khuba, MLCs B.G. Patil and K.B. Shanappa and others were present. Source: The Hindu