Ahead of govt’s second anniversary, opposition ridicules Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru: Opposition BJP and JD(S) took potshots of the govt Monday, the eve of its ‘Samarpana Sankalp Samavesha’ to celebrate its second anniversary, attacking it on price rise, appeasement politics and the lack of development, especially in Bengaluru as overnight rain showed.The opposition claimed the state govt failed to mitigate floods with BJP state president BY Vijayendra saying the govt had promised Greater Bengaluru but had given citizens “Water Bengaluru” instead.Union minister HD Kumaraswamy of JS(S) said Bengaluru “drowns if there is heavy rain and floats if there is no rain”. “The govt does not have funds even to fill potholes, but it has thousands of crores for tunnels.”Vijayendra wondered why the govt was celebrating when infrastructure projects are languishing. “Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar talks about big projects, but Metro work is not meeting deadlines. They speak of extending the Metro to Tumakuru but they can’t even fill potholes in Bengaluru,” he alleged.R Ashoka, opposition leader, alleged that the govt’s failure to learn from last year’s mistakes led to this disaster and Bengaluru is facing “humiliation on the global stage”. “Drains, stormwater channels, and rajakaluves should have been cleaned in advance,” Ashoka said. “White-topping and repair work are ongoing in many parts of the city, and if debris was cleared, this situation could have been avoided.”Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Ashwath Narayan, former MLCs, and others released posters titled ‘Karnataka Loot-Congress Duty’ at the party office. He said the posters reflect the “achievements” of the govt over the past two years.“Sunday’s rain in Bengaluru is the trailer to Congress govt’s achievements. The full movie is yet to come,” he said. “No precautionary measures were taken despite a forecast for rain. Shivakumar is solely responsible for this,” Narayan said.Former deputy mayor S Harish said Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had visited Sai Layout previously and had promised a permanent solution to perennial flooding there. “I am just reminding them of their promise. The same area flooded again on Sunday,” he said.
