Mallikarjun Kharge.
Credit: DH file photo
Yadgir: The All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar to transform the backward Kalyana Karnataka region like Bengaluru and Mysuru.
The Congress president was speaking at an event to lay the foundation stone for various development projects under the Arogya Avishkara scheme worth Rs 440 crore, aimed at enhancing health infrastructure in the Kalyana Karnataka region.
"S M Krishna used to speak about transforming Bengaluru into a Singapore during his tenure as CM. But, we don't want to make our Kalyan Karnataka region like Singapore. Instead, it will be enough for us if the region is transformed like Siddaramaiah's Mysuru and Shivakumar's Bengaluru," he said.
He said all seven districts in the region are lagging behind in education because of a severe shortage of teachers. "Since there's no need to get the approval of the finance department under Article 371(J) to fill vacant posts, the government should accord priority in filling vacant teachers posts and backlog posts," Kharge said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "A high-level committee has been formed under the chairmanship of economist Govinda Rao to set the development index, and special grants will be given to this region in the coming days as per the recommendations of the report."
"After our government came to power, we have given a Rs 13,000 crore grant to the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board," the CM added.