MLC B J Puttaswamy of the BJP said the results of the bypolls to three Assembly seats were a reflection of the people’s opinion about the Congress government in the State.

Speaking to media persons, here, on Tuesday, he said that he had never ever seen a chief minister and his entire cabinet lock up their offices in the Vidhana Soudha and campaigning for the bypolls, in his 40 years of political experience.

Stating that the State government has gone into sleeping mode, Puttaswamy said, “The results in the third year of the government should be a warning bell.

The chief minister himself has admitted that only 40 per cent of the funds earmarked in the budget had been spent by various departments. Janardhana Poojary of the ruling party is pointing out that not many ministers in the Cabinet are capable.Former chief minister S M Krishna is also unhappy about the functioning of the government.” 

‘CM thick-skinned’“MLA K Venkatesh, during a public meeting, urged the chief minister to follow in the footsteps of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, regarding the development. But, the government and the chief minister have turned thick-skinned and are not even responding to the protests by the opposition parties.

People are watching. The Assembly bypolls are just a beginning. So, the BJP is hoping to get a majority in at least 15 districts in the Zilla and Taluk Panchayat elections. When BJP was in power in the State, it had a majority in 13 districts,” he said.

Describing the government as dormant, Puttaswamy said that Siddaramaiah was content with the launch of Anna Bhagya, which is mostly funded by the Centre.

“Siddaramaiah is taking credit for Central government scheme. The Centre is procuring rice at a cost of Rs 32 per kg and is providing it at Rs 3 per kg to the State government. Siddaramaiah is not even worried about how it is being implemented and its scams. In Karnataka, there are 1.34 crore families, out of which over a crore families possess BPL cards. Most of the BPL cards are deposited in the fair price shops and the rice meant for the poor are transacted only on paper and thus, misused by rice mill owners. The same rice comes into rotation in several cycles, generating huge funds for rice mill owners and middlemen,” he said.

“The BJP government appointed PDOs (Panchayat Development Officer) for Gram Panchayats and provided 50 per cent reservations for women in the rural local bodies. Under Suvarna Grama Scheme, works on roads, lakes and temples were taken up. The GPs were strengthened with enhanced funds allocations. To help farmers in distress, loans were advanced to farmers at three per cent interest rate, for the first time in India. Crop loans worth Rs 3,600 crore were waived at one go. Under Suvarna Bhoomi scheme, Rs 10,000 seed money was provided to small farmers to initiate farm activities every year. Now, the Congress government has discontinued all pro-people programmes initiated by the BJP, but claims that it is the saviour of rural people in the wake of the ZP and TP polls,” he said.

S R Gopal Rao, Dattareya Shinde, Rajkumar and Venkataramana Shetty were present.