Vijayapura MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal on Wednesday defended his face-off with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa earlier this week and said that he would raise his voice for the sake of development and whenever there was an injustice.
"I’m not afraid of anything. In my political career spanning 30 years, I have always spoken for the people," he told reporters.
On Monday, Yatnal reportedly took on Yediyurappa over the state of affairs in the government, accusing his son and BJP vice-president BY Vijayendra of running a 'parallel government'.
Yatnal, a former union minister, also took a dig at CM's political secretary MP Renukacharya for his "displays of loyalty" during Yediyurappa's marathon meetings with MLAs.
Yatnal said that his grouse during the meeting was regarding developmental works. "I will speak about development projects for North Karnataka. That cannot be held as anti-party. I have raised my voice against some failures of the government in the Legislative Assembly, too," he said, recalling his criticism on "very high bills" levied on Covid-19 patients by private hospitals.
On remarks by Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol that only one MLA had created a ruckus at the meeting, Yatnal said Yediyurappa was aware of who that was. "All MLAs spoke on development. Only one MLA created a ruckus during the meeting to display his loyalty to the CM, while other MLAs expressed their concerns in a disciplined manner," Yatnal said, without naming Renukacharya.
On Housing Minister V Somanna condemning his behaviour at the meeting, Yatnal said that nobody had criticised him when he spoke his mind in front of the CM. "Every MLA supported my views, save one MLA," he said.
Responding to the remarks, Renukacharya defended his stance at the meeting. "No one asked to defend anybody during the meeting. I raised my voice against those unnecessarily criticising the government," he said, adding that he, too, was not afraid of anybody.
(Published 06 January 2021, 14:27 IST)
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