BENGALURU: The Congress has raised the pitch, complaining of ‘injustice’ on the part of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who is hopping constituencies where bypolls are due and distributing largesse in the form of title deeds, development plans and laying foundation stones for new projects.
As Yediyurappa on Friday visited Chikkaballapura and announced a slew of projects, Congressmen were busy calculating the damage it would do to their vote base. “The Rs 640 crore for a medical college and over Rs 700 crore as development funds will not help them two days before the code of conduct kicks in,” they said. Congressmen complained that in poll-bound Hirekerur, Yediyurappa had announced a bounty of Rs 120
crore for development works and a Rs 100-crore grant for Haveri. Yediyurappa also visited Hoskote and promised Cauvery water and Metro connectivity, in the hope that it would help the candidate. In KR Pet, the ‘dole’ amounted to Rs 1,000 crore --a largesse so generous that rebel MLA Narayan Gowda couldn’t hide his glee.
An upset Congress leader Priyank Kharge questioned, “On the one hand, the BJP is behaving as if it did not engineer Operation Kamala, on the other BSY’s going to these constituencies and announcing projects with just days left for elections!’’
Besides this, Congress and JDS leaders have complained that grants and funds to their constituencies have been severely cut. JDS leader Naganagouda Kandakur told TNIE that his constituency, Gurmitkal, has lost Rs 200 crore.
Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao and former minister Krishna Byre Gowda also carped about the cuts developmental funds and grants in the constitucies of sitting opposition MLAs. “When we raised this issue in the House, CM Yediyurappa assured us that no injustice would be meted out to the opposition, but look what’s happening, partisan disbursal of funds and grants,” they alleged.