Karnataka’s incumbent chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and former chief minister Siddaramaiah are at loggerheads and have been taking jibes at each other as the state’s assembly election is close at hand. CM Bommai on Saturday said Siddaramaiah plunged the state into major debt burden as he took maximum loan during his tenure as chief minister. Similarly, the leader of opposition in the state assembly alleged the BJP government of being involved in looting and bribery.
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“In the history of Karnataka, Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah has the credit of taking the maximum loan during his five years ruling as the chief minister,” Bommai said.
The former CM claimed that there has been a pro-Congress wave across the state. He further said that only 10% of work announced in previous year’s budget has been implemented and that the state’s borrowing capacity touched ₹3 lakh crore. To which, Bommai responded that details on the implementation of the last year’s budget will be presented in the coming budget.
In a series of tweet, Siddaramaiah criticised the BJP-led state government over a number of areas. He recalled his chief ministerial tenure and said how he waived off farmers’ loans, which the current government failed to do.
“When I was the Chief Minister, 22 lakh 27 thousand farmers had deposited Rs. 50,000 up to a total of ₹8,165 crore. I waived the loan. @BSBommai, Yeddyurappa, @narendramodi anyone waived off farmers’ loans?” he asked in one of his tweets in Kannada which has been loosely translated.
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He further compared the state government with the tale of ‘Alibaba and 40 theives’ for allegedly looting. He added that the BJP didn’t come to power with the blessing of people but “paying ₹15-20 crore to MLAs”.
CM Bommai, on the other hand, ‘advised’ Siddaramaiah to “safeguard” the MLAs of the region where he is touring under the Praja Dhwani Yatra.
The Karnataka assembly election is scheduled for this year and senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa exuded confidence that polls likely to take place before April 10-12.
