Janardhan Poojary, former Union minister and senior Congress leader has urged the Siddaramaiah-led State government to withdraw the order on the setting up of an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
Briefing mediapersons, he warned that the adamant nature on setting up an ACB at the cost of the Lokayukta by Siddaramaiah will cost the government dear. The Congress has come to power in Karnataka on anti-corruption plank, he said, and wondered if the Chief Minister has forgotten the promise to the people. “Does the setting up of an ACB have any purpose in the State?” he asked.
To a query on the BJP leaders writing a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi on the issue of the ACB, Poojary said, “Jagadish Shettar and other BJP leaders should write letters to the PM through Pralhad Joshi to question their leaders on delay in setting up the Lokpal and giving autonomy to the CBI. The chief minister was right in questioning the Opposition on why the Centre was delaying in the setting up the Lokpal.”
Yettinahole project
Speaking on the Yettinahole project, Poojary wondered if both former chief ministers M Veerappa Moily and D V Sadananda Gowda were not aware of the Climate Change Assessment Report brought out by the Ministry of Environment and Forest in 2010. “The report was based on a study carried out by 120 organisations and 220 scientists in the country, and it was submitted to the Union government as well as to the State Environment and Forest departments. The report had clearly stated that the change in climate and temperature will affect the rainfall pattern across India, including Karnataka. This, in turn, will adversely affect the availability of water,” he reminded.
“The Western Ghats is a lifeline that provides water to the coastal region as well as to the whole country by giving birth to rivers. The implementation of the Yettinahole project will have adverse affects on such natural setups,” he said, adding that the implementation of the Yettinahole project also clearly shows that both the said former chief ministers have not made studied the report.
He flayed Sadananda Gowda, who had recently supported the Yettinahole project at a function in Kundapur, stating he had given administrative approval for the project on humanitarian grounds, to ensure that people in parched districts get water.
Asked to comment on the row over printing the invitation of Puttur Shree Mahalingeshwara Temple in the name of Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim, Poojary asked if the God from the temple will run away if a non-Hindu enters the temple. “The row can be solved in half-an-hour. God will judge the people who are creating controversy on the issue. If the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act is against the Constitution, then it should be amended,” he stated.
Published 24 March 2016, 17:41 IST