Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagdish Shettar came to the defence of Bharatiya Janata Party’s national vice-president and the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa by blaming the Congress government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of resorting to vindictive politics and political vendetta.
Referring to the 10 FIRs filed against Mr. Yeddyurappa and the arrest of Anand Singh, a mining businessman and a former Minister in the preceding BJP government, Mr. Shettar, who was here to receive BJP national president Amit Shah at the airport on Tuesday, told presspersons that after holding back for long, the government had started targeting leaders of opposition party in the State. But the government was not showing enthusiasm in taking action against Congress leaders who were also involved in various illegal activities.
He said the Congress was only targeting BJP leaders when it was pointed out that the FIRs were based on the reports submitted by the Criminal Investigation Department in connection with denotification of land.
Monsoon session
Mr. Shettar expressed apprehensions of the government going back on holding the monsoon session under the pretext of elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). He said the BBMP elections should not come in the way of monsoon session and it must be held for full 20 days.
Sugarcane growers
The BJP leader took strong exception to the remarks of Small Scale Minister Satish L. Jarkiholi that the BJP was taking political mileage by planning a procession to Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi from Badal Ankalgi, where sugarcane grower Gurunath Mallappa Chapgaon committed suicide for delay in payment of sugarcane bill.
He said the remarks were irresponsible. Gurunath had supplied sugarcane in February but Malaprabha Sahakara Sakkare Karkhane Limited, Hubballi, paid the dues amounting to Rs. 78,000 a day after his death.
If Mr. Jarkiholi and his government had any concern for the farmers, sugarcane dues to the tune of nearly Rs. 4,600 crore should be cleared before the monsoon session, he said, and declared that the BJP would go ahead with its plan of taking a procession from Badal Ankalgi to the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha during the monsoon session.
Mr. Shettar attributed the unresolved burning problems faced by the farmers and people of the State to the alleged laziness of Mr. Siddaramaiah. “He is a lazy person and therefore, lackadaisical towards people’s problems,” he said.
Says the State government was not taking any action against any implicated Congress leaders
Calls Siddaramaiah ‘lazy person’ with ‘a lackadaisical approach towards people’s problems
