JOIN USAssembly witnesses commotion on allotment of houses
The Siddaramaiah government appears to be following in the footsteps of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in governance. Those who have not voted for the ruling party will not get the benefits of the government schemes.
Opposition parties on Tuesday hit out at the ruling Congress in the Assembly for its move to allot 50,000 houses under Vajpayee and Basava housing schemes only to constituencies of Congress MLAs. And, surprisingly, Housing Minister M H Ambareesh tried to defend it, saying that there was nothing wrong in giving houses to people who have voted the party to power.
“People have voted for us... What is wrong in it? You did the same when we were in the opposition,” Ambareesh said, challenging the BJP members who stalled the proceedings of the House by staging dharna, protesting the disparity in allotment of houses meant for the poor. The Minister tried to justify his decision saying that the Congress MLAs were at the receiving end during seven years of BJP rule in the State.
The BJP members said it was partisan politics. “We will not accept this answer... This is not cinema, where you can deliver dialogues,” the members shouted.Earlier, opposition leader Jagadish Shettar pointed out, “Of the 42,800 houses under Basava housing scheme for the year 2013-14, as many as 42,600 houses have been allotted to constituencies of Congress MLAs.
The lone opposition member to get houses allotted to his constituency is Iqbal Ansari of the JD(S). Two hundred houses have been allotted to Gangavathi, the constituency represented by Ansari.
Shettar further added that not a single house had been allotted to constituencies represented by BJP members while as many as 85 Congress MLAs had been allotted 500 houses each. Similarly, all the 7,200 houses under the Vajpayee housing scheme, for 2013-14, have been allotted to constituencies represented by 15 Congress MLAs, Shettar said.
The BJP and JD(S) members cried foul, entered the well of the House and demanded that the houses be re-allotted among all members. As the din continued, Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa adjourned the House for 10 minutes and called the floor leaders for a meeting in his chambers. The protesting members later withdrew the dharna following assurance from Ambareesh that he will allot houses to all 224 constituencies in the current financial year.