Congress U-Turn Reflects Internal Political Compulsions, Says Vijayendra

Belagavi: Raising the Kogilu Scheme issue, state BJP president BY Vijayendra alleged that the key decisions of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar regarding housing allocation were driven by internal political compulsion to save and secure the Chief Minister’s post.

Talking to the media in Belagavi, Vijayendra said that the government initially took a firm stand and cleared the illegal settlers from Kogilu Layout by eliminating encroachments.

“The decision was reversed a few days later, following a statement by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and AICC general secretary KC Venugopal’s pressure on the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister,” he said.

Claiming that the Prime Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister are in a “desperate situation”, Vijayendra alleged that while one of them was trying to retain the Chief Minister’s post, the other desired to do so, leading to setbacks in politics.

“While Siddaramaiah is struggling to save his seat, Shivakumar is aiming to secure the Chief Minister’s seat,” he said.

Vijayendra accused the Chief Minister of announcing the decision to allocate houses of Rajiv Gandhi Housing Society in Baiyappanahalli to illegal immigrants and questioned whether such policy decisions were taken by the elected government of Karnataka or dictated by AICC general secretary KC Venugopal from Delhi.

He alleged that the houses were being built for poor Kannadigas and warned that arbitrary decisions cannot be taken merely out of fear of the higher command to protect one’s position.

“The decisions of the chief minister and the deputy chief minister are illegal. Why are you taking such decisions that will harm the self-respect of Kannadigas?” he asked. He also questioned whether it was right for the Prime Minister to make voluntary decisions about homes being built with taxpayers’ money.

Raising questions about the government’s priorities, Vijayendra recalled that Siddaramaiah had earlier announced the construction of 100 houses in Kerala’s Wayanad following the landslide and sanctioned 15 lakh rupees as compensation for the deaths caused by the elephant attack there.

“What kind of injustice has our state’s poor committed?” he asked.

He said farmers in Karnataka were severely affected by heavy rains and were awaiting compensation from the state government. “Instead of responding to farmers’ grievances, the Prime Minister was only pointing fingers at the Centre,” he recalled.

“It has been 2.5 years since the government came to power. How many houses have been built and delivered to the poor so far?” he asked.

Emphasizing that the state government should prioritize the needs of the poor in Karnataka, Vijayendra said it was unfortunate that he had to remind Siddaramaiah that he was the Chief Minister of Karnataka. He alleged that decisions taken to maintain political power came at the expense of Kannadigas and their livelihood.