Don’t ridicule people’s mandate by criticising our govt: BSY

Any criticism on the legitimacy of the 7-month-old BJP government will amount to ‘ridiculing’ the people’s mandate, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa told the Legislative Assembly on Monday.

Yediyurappa was replying to the motion of thanks on the Governor’s address amid protests and sloganeering by the Opposition Congress and JD(S), whose members jumped into the well of the House against controversial statements made by BJP’s Basanagouda Patil Yatnal on veteran freedom fighter H S Doreswamy.

“I don’t like talking politics on the Governor’s address, but (Congress leader) Siddaramaiah has been critical of our government, for which I must answer,” Yediyurappa said. He was referring to Siddaramaiah calling the BJP government “illegitimate.”

“Numbers matter in a democracy. And in this game, our party has won. It was proved that our party has the people’s support when we won 12 out of 15 seats in the bypolls. This was a moral victory for our government and party,” Yediyurappa said, adding that the Congress won just one seat in the Lok Sabha polls last year. “Your criticism is akin to ridiculing the people’s mandate.”

Amid the din, Yediyurappa hailed his government’s efforts to tackle the August 2019 floods, which killed 91 people and displaced nearly 7 lakh persons. “This was a trial by fire. Initially, I was alone in the government. Still, I spent day and night responding to the needs of those affected by the floods. Together with officials, we’ve been successful in giving
relief,” he said.

According to Yediyurappa, the government has, so far, released Rs 4,413 crore towards flood relief under NDRF, SDRF, the CM’s Relief Fund and other departments. Of this, Rs 3,338 crore has been spent,
he said.

For the first time in the country, the CM said, the government announced Rs 5 lakh compensation, as against the norm of Rs 98,000, toward construction of new homes in lieu of those damaged in the floods. “We have released Rs 1 lakh already and construction of homes have begun. We’ll start giving the 2nd installment of Rs 1 lakh.”

Assuring the Assembly that the March 5 Budget will give a boost to the irrigation and agriculture sectors, the chief minister also said that north Karnataka will get investments going forward. “For better utilization of the Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi, I’ve decided to shift 5-6 departments from here to there.”