Congress leaders preoccupied with a game of musical chairs: R Ashoka

'If the Chief Minister will not be changed, why is everyone in the Congress meeting party president Mallikarjun Kharge? The problem of sugarcane farmers has not been solved; human-animal conflict is on the rise, while the state is yet to compensate those who suffered losses owing to excess rain,' he said.

Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly R Ashoka on Monday took a swipe at leaders in the Congress for ignoring several pressing issues in the state, and being obsessed with their game of ‘musical chairs’.

“If the Chief Minister will not be changed, why is everyone in the Congress meeting party president Mallikarjun Kharge? The problem of sugarcane farmers has not been solved; human-animal conflict is on the rise, while the state is yet to compensate those who suffered losses owing to excess rain. But Congress leaders are busy playing a game of musical chairs for the CM’s post. If the Cabinet is expanded, Deputy CM D K Shivakumar may be sidelined,” Ashoka told journalists in Bengaluru.

The LoP urged Minister for Forests, Environment and Ecology Eshwar Khandre to take note of the death of 31 blackbucks at the Belagavi Zoo.

Ashoka opined that issues concerning North Karnataka must be discussed at length in the Winter Session of the state legislature scheduled to commence from December 8 in Belagavi. Ashoka said that he would speak to Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy about the sugarcane farmers’ plight, and issues concerning law and order in the state.

Rejecting the Congress government’s claims of the Centre delaying the disbursal of funds, Ashoka said, “I met farmers in Chamarajanagar and spoke to them about compensation for the crop they had lost, besides other issues. CM Siddaramaiah gives long speeches but fails to disburse compensation. He does not attend the GST committee meeting where he can offer suggestions, but comes here and makes accusations.”