Mangaluru: Former Chief Minister of Karnataka, H D Kumaraswamy held a press meet at the Circuit House here, on April 9.
Addressing the media persons, Kumaraswamy said, “The state is suffering from severe drought and power shortage in several places and the state government has not brought any policies to tackle these grave issues as was expected from a government that cared for public welfare.”
“The drought relief of Rs 1541 crore by the central government is not utilised for the welfare of the people but is routed to different schemes in the name of the farmers. Many states are facing drought as well and the central and state governments should have taken steps to provide employment to the public. This has not happened and the states are not in a position to pay the wages of the poor under the rural employment guarantee MNREGA scheme,” he said.
Kumaraswamy said that he opposed the move of the state government to purchase power generated from solar units at Rs 9.38 per unit. He said, “They will keep purchasing power at this cost for the next 25 years according to the agreement. This will lead to further increase in power prices. The state should follow the model of Madhya Pradesh, where power generated from solar units is at Rs 4 per unit.”
He also said that the government has increased the cess levied on fossil fuels. “The government has also failed to stop farmer suicides and is not supporting the agriculture sector and co-operatives. Now with the formation of ACB, they are going to dismantle the Lokayukta. When we raise the alarm regarding the formation of ACB, the ruling party says that ACB is implemented in 16 other states. But if we check the websites, we will know that there has been no reduction in corruption in these states,” Kumaraswamy said. He also spoke about the incapability of the state government in dealing with issues like the illegal sand mining and the revoking of 9/11.
Speaking about the selection of Yeddyurappa as the BJP state President, Kumaraswamy said, “BJP has the worst leadership. In the history of Karnataka, Yeddyurappa was the first Chief Minister who spent time in jail.”
He rubbished any chance of forming a coalition with the BJP to form a government in the state. He said, “We formed a coalition government in 2006 due to unavoidable circumstances. But my government is not involved in any corruption.”
Speaking about the Yettinahole project, Kumaraswamy said, “I have already raised this issue in the Vidhan Sabha. I don’t want the state to utilize public money in unrealistic projects. They should verify each and every fact before starting the project. I cannot comment on the project report as I am not a technical person, but many technically sound people suggest that the project is not viable.”
District JD(S) President, Mohammed Kunhi, Corporator Azeez Kudroli, Youth JD(S) leader Akshith Suvarna and others were also present.
Is this guy still around? May be, he was paying a visit to his ‘farm house’ near Maji for some quality time!! Also, glad to see Mohammed Kunhi sitting next to this guy. He has been loyal to ‘appa-maga’ team for almost 25 years now!!