During an election meeting in Gundlupet on Thursday Opposition Leader in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa suggested the voters to receive money from Congress but vote for BJP. Eshwarappa was addressing a public meeting in Chikkati village. He said, “Energy Minister D K Shivakumar is distributing Rs 4,000 per voter to cast his/her vote for the Congress. Voters should take the money but cast their vote for BJP.”
He said that Congress leaders Mallikarjuna Kharge and G Parameshwara were exerting pressure on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to ensure that the caste census, conducted by the State Backward Commission, is not published.
‘CM deserves Nobel for lies’
Commenting on the assurances given by the chief minister, Eshwarappa said, “Siddaramaiah is an expert in spinning lies. If a Nobel Prize for the best liar is instituted, it should go to Siddaramaiah.”
He ridiculed the recent felicitation accorded to Siddaramaiah by the Coordination Committee for Dalit Organisations in Bengaluru and said that it was “unfortunate” as the chief minister’s contribution for the upliftment of Dalits has been zero.
“With a bad track record of not spending over 50% of the funds earmarked for the welfare of SC/STs, it is unfortunate that Siddaramaiah is projecting himself as a champion of Dalits. Of the Rs 19,500 crore earmarked in the budget for Dalits, only Rs 9,500 crore has been spent. The CM should at least fix a deadline for spending the remaining amount. Siddaramaiah has announced that the cap on reservations would be increased from 50% to 72% on the lines of Tamil Nadu. Constitutionally, reservations should not exceed 50%. He should spell out how he is going to do this and in how many months. Moreover, Christians and Muslims are not the private property of the Congress party,” he said.
He exuded confidence that the BJP would get a majority in the Assembly elections next year and B S Yeddyurappa would be the Chief Minister. “Congress will get only panganama,” he said.
Published 30 March 2017, 19:29 IST