BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal.
Credit: DH Photo
BJP legislator from Vijayapura Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, on Wednesday, gave a rather strange explanation as to why there was no leader of the Opposition in the state.
“By the time the leader of the Opposition is elected, the Congress government itself may collapse due to the bickerings in the ruling party. Where is the need for a leader of the Opposition when there is no government at all?,” he said.
“The government is completely bankrupt. It has totally failed in implementing the guarantees. Beneficiaries of ‘Gruha Jyoti’ are not getting total 200 units of power free as promised. Not all women who registered for ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ are getting Rs 2,000 month in their bank accounts. Sufficient money hasn’t been released for the same,” the MLA said.
“Petty issues like tiger claws and renaming state as Basavanadu are being floated to divert people’s attention,” Yatnal said.
“Implementing the guarantees will cost Rs 1.05 lakh crore. The government could fall before the funds are released,” he said. There is a possibility of the fall of the government in the state, as speculated by Ramesh Jarkiholi. “Whenever there is a political earthquake, those from Belagavi district sense it first. Jarkiholi must have felt those early signals,” Yatnal said.
The Vijayapura strongman claimed that there was a huge conspiracy being hatched to dislodge Chief Minister Siddaramaiah from power.
“Congress MLA from Channagiri has claimed that Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has the support of 70 party MLAs. Does it mean that Siddaramaiah has only 65 legislators on his side,” he questioned.
Reacting to buses from Karnataka being set afire in Maharashtra in the wake of the Maratha quota stir in the neighbouring state, Yatnal said Kannadigas should not be provoked deliberately by miscreants in Maharashtra.