BENGALURU: BJP workers from Mandya have penned a sarcastic letter to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan over the Kogilu encroachment clearance drive, pointing out serious anomalies in the Congress government’s housing policies. The BJP has urged the Kerala CM to post a tweet on the poor and urban poor in Karnataka who have no houses.
The letter reads, “Dear Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, there are plenty of poor people in our state. Please post one tweet, if you post a tweet our government will immediately provide houses.”
The letter comes in the backdrop of a drive to clear encroachments in Kogilu Layout in North Bengaluru, where 150-200 illegal dwellings were removed on December 20. The encroachments were cleared from 5 acres of land, said to be worth about Rs 80 crore.
Opposition leader R Ashoka pointed out that the land is worth about Rs 600 crore, and is part of a larger parcel of about 14 acres, which had been encroached by “illegal migrants”. The land belongs to Karnataka Solid Waste Management Limited, which is a government company.
Kerala CM Vijayan had tweeted about the “brutal normalisation of bulldozer raj’’ and accused the Congress of being anti-minority. The Karnataka government has stoutly defended its action, saying it was necessary to remove encroachments.
Amid this row, AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal brought in pressure on the Karnataka government which soon announced that it would rehabilitate eligible evictees under its housing schemes, and provide alternative accommodation for them in Baiyappanahalli.
The Mandya BJP workers recounted this in their letter and mocked the state Congress, asking about all the poor people in Karnataka who are waiting for genuine allotment of houses.
BJP said appeasement politics and prioritization of illegal settlers, as against the genuine poor, was to blame. BJP state president Vijayendra said rehabilitation of the evictees was done under pressure due to Kerala politics, and critics are linking it to assembly elections due in Kerala soon.