MYSURU: BJP national president Amit Shah proclaimed state president BS Yeddyurappa the next chief minister of the state and rule for a full five-year term. Speaking to mediapersons here on Saturday, Shah brought up the Veerashaiva-Lingayat issue to accuse Chief Minister of introducing it just before the Assembly polls to deny Yeddyurappa the opportunity to form the next government. Shah added that Siddaramaiah was dividing people along the lines of caste and religion.
He said the government was keeping the matter in limbo for four years and then offering to give Lingayats the minority religion status for political gains. “The Union government will take a decision after the elections,” he said.
The Rajya Sabha member distanced himself from former minister Janaradhan Reddy, and clarified that a screening committee would pick BJP candidates for the elections, “based on their track record and clean image”. Claiming that the Centre had released `79,000 crore to Karnataka, he “rued that the Congress were acting like speed breakers against development”.
BJP to now woo farmers with its Kisan Mitra manifesto
Mandya: In a bid to strike a chord with farmers, Amit Shah on Saturday announced that the party will come out with ‘Kisan Mitra’ (farmer-friendly) election manifesto. Shah’s concern towards farmers assumes significance for the reason that the party has announced K S Nanjunde Gowda a farmer leader, as its candidate from Srirangapatna. Shah said the farmer-friendly manifesto will come out with plans to protect interests of farmers. Shah alleged that Congress has done nothing for farmers’ welfare as is evident with the suicide of 3,500 farmers in the last few years.
Congress is carrying out misinformation campaign: Shah
MYSURU: Amit Shah has accused the Congress and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of carrying out misinformation campaign on allocation of funds by the Centre. He feared that such misinformation would threaten the integrity of the country. He said in the federal system, the Central government’s expenditure is met from the same pool of funds.On the allegation that the Centre is discriminating against Southern states in allocation of funds, Shah maintained that there is no such discrimination. “The state that was allocated D88,583 crore by the 13th Finance Commission was allocated D2,19, 566 crore by the 14th commission,” he said.