BENGALURU: BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa, who made an overnight stay at Lakshmanpuri slum in Gandhinagar constituency, has assured ‘pucca houses’ for all slum dwellers in the state by 2020.
Yeddyurappa, who spent the night at auto driver Munirathna’s house and savoured Uppittu (khara bath), idli and coffee for breakfast on Sunday morning, hit out at the Congress party. “The Congress exploited slum dwellers as a vote bank for 70 years and failed to improve their living conditions,” he said.
The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has already promised to provide pucca houses for all the homeless in the country. About two crore houses will be built by 2020, Yeddyurappa said and assured slum dwellers that they will be provided with all the civic amenities once the BJP comes to power in the state.
Addressing the residents of Lakshmanpuri after releasing a report on the living conditions in slums across the state prepared by the BJP Slum Morcha, Yeddyurappa cited the ‘Bhagya Lakshmi’ scheme launched by him to empower girl children and flayed the Congress government for derailing it.According to the report, over 70 lakh people in the state are living in slums, 88 per cent of slums do not have public toilets and only 28 per cent have street lights.
‘Siddu mentally deranged’
BJP state chief B S Yeddyurappa called Chief Minister Siddaramaiah a “mentally deranged and insane” person. Neither Siddaramaiah nor the Congress Gandhinagar MLA bothered to visit the slums and understand the plight of slum dwellers, he said. Congress leaders, who claim to be champions of the Dalit cause, have insulted Ambedkar and Babu Jagjivan Ram, he added.