Udupi: Law and Order Situation in State has totally collapsed – B S Yeddyurappa

Udupi: The law and order situation in the state has collapsed after the Congress party came to power, said former Chief Minister and MP of Byndoor-Shimoga, BS Yeddyurappa. He was addressing a press meet at Hotel Diana here, on Wednesday October 14.

“Prashanth Poojary, a Hindu outfit leader who raised his voice against illegal transportation of cattle, was murdered by some unidentified persons. In Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts, the police are silent on cattle transportation. Before dying, Prashath Poojary told the names of four of the culprits. It was unfortunate that even one week after the victim’s death, the police have failed to arrest the culprits. Local ministers are trying to protect the culprits,” he alleged.

When BJP was in power in the state, we had imposed a ban on KFD and PFI, but the Siddaramaiah government decided to withdraw cases against the members of PFI and KFD. The state government is indirectly supporting communal clashes by withdrawing the cases, he said.

He further said that instead of utilising the opportunity by giving good governance, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is indulging in “useless and false” criticism about others. “We have tried to cleanse the stains of Congress’ ten years of misrule to some extent.”

Commenting on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birth in the land of Mahatma Gandhi, BSY said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should apologise to the people, who have enormously supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the general elections, for speaking in a derogatory way on Gandhi Jayanti. “Siddaramaiah’s statement against Modi, who has made the world look at India with reverence, shows his narrow-mindedness. He should seek an apology from the people of the country for humiliating Modi,” he said.

He accused the Siddaramaiah government of failing to implement budgetary programmes meant for the benefit of the poor and backward classes and read out statistics to highlight the poor performance of various departments. “The financial situation of the state is bad and development activities have been starved of funds. Despite the state getting more funds from the devolution of funds from the Centre under the 14th Finance Commission and other heads, it is not in a position to provide more funds for key departments like Water Resources and Agriculture. The state would be getting Rs. 1,80,566 crore as its share under the 14th Finance Commission recommendations from 2015 to 2020, which Rs. 1,21,875 crore more than its share under the 13th Finance Commission.” He pointed out that of the Rs. 11,000 crore allocated for water resource development, only Rs. 1500 crore had been spent. Many people-centric programmes launched by the previous BJP government including the Suvarna Grama Yojna and other programmes have been buried.

Responding to Siddaramaiah’s allegation on the Smart City project, Yeddyurappa said the Union government has not neglected villages and is developing rural areas under the Suvarna Grama Yojana. Karnataka, which was in third place in the industry sector, has been pushed to ninth place, he added.

Commenting on MP Nalin Kumar Kateel’s padayatra against Yettinahole project, Yedduyrappa said that the state government had gone too far and it is very difficult to look back when it comes to the Yettinahole project. “The Congress-led state government should go for an expert report on the Yettinahole project to take the affected people into confidence. A concrete report by an expert would help people to understand ground realities. The project needs to be implemented without bothering the people in the region.” He said that the government should take up a debate on the issue.

Udupi-Chikmagalur MP Shobha Karandlaje, BJP district chief Thingale Vikramarjuna Hegde, Former MLA Lalaji R Mendon, Shyamala Kundar, Uday Kumar Shetty, Yaspal Suvarna, Mattar Rathnakar Hegde and others were present.