Returning the Opposition fire in the Legislative Assembly over the authenticity of his village stay programme, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday said he would validate the positive impact of the programme during the session on Monday.

He was addressing a gathering after inaugurating the renovated Gandhi Bhavan building.

“Comments are being made on the grama vasthavya programme, suggesting that it’s a publicity stunt. I’ll explain in the Assembly on Monday on how successful has the programme been and what difference has it brought to the villages (where he stayed) in terms of infrastructure development,” the Chief Minister said.

Taking a dig at senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah over his criticism of the programme, the Chief Minister highlighted the plight of residents of two villages — Dadakallahalli and Chikkakanya — in the Congress leader’s constituency, prior to the CM’s visit. “While Dalit families were a harried lot in Dadakallahalli, Chikkakanya had a serious problem of water scarcity,” he said. Mr Kumaraswamy pointed out that his recent visit to Chamarajanagar had also led to development of road infrastructure and housing in the villages he visited.

The Chief Minister, however, had words of praise for senior Congress leaders C K Jaffer Sharief and Union Minister of State for Planning M V Rajashekaran — both were on the dais during the function — and also highlighted Mr Sharief’s contributions to the State during his tenure as the Union Minister for Railways.