Blame game: Cong, BJP try to outsmart each other over Smart City loss

The blame game over Bengaluru not being considered for the Smart City project by the Centre continues. On Saturday, it was the turn of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to find fault with the BJP for the denial of the project.

Siddaramaiah, while interacting with the media, said that a charge sheet will be filed against the BJP before the ‘people’s court’ shortly.

Siddaramaiah was reacting to Union Minister Ananth Kumar’s statement that the State government was responsible for Bengaluru not getting the Smart City status. Kumar, onFriday, had said that the Congress government had not done its homework to get Bengaluru under the project. The State’s evaluation committee had excluded Bengaluru and Mysuru from the Smart City project.

The chief minister, terming Kumar’s statement as irresponsible, said the minister was trying to rid himself of the responsibility besides politicising the issue in the light of the BBMP polls.

 The BJP was in power in the Palike for over nine years, which was when the civic agency witnessed rampant corruption, scams and irregularities.

“In all these years, whose responsibility was it to collect the property tax and execute JnNURM projects? The Rajendra Kumar Kataria report outlining all the illegalities will be released. We will file a charge sheet before the people’s court,” he said. The chief minister said that the government would order a probe into the misappropriation of JnNURM funds.

However, the State BJP on Saturday stuck to its stand that it was the ruling Congress which was responsible for Bengaluru being left out from the Smart City project. Former chief minister said, “The state government has been in power for nearly two-and-a-half years. It should have made efforts to convince the Centre to include Bengaluru under the project.”

He said that Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake’s statement that the State government would make up for the loss by providing additional funds to Bengaluru amounted to violation of the model code of conduct as the process for the BBMP elections had begun.