MANGALURU: By raising the issue of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts’ sharp fall in education (SSLC and PUC results) and health indexes during the previous BJP regime, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has set a political narrative to counter the saffron party and Sangh Parivar in their backyard.
While the BJP sees politics behind the CM’s statement to divert people’s attention from the government’s alleged inability to take up development works due to a fund crunch owing to the implementation of its five guarantees, the Congress begs to differ saying that there is nothing wrong in it and he just voiced the concerns of educational, industrial and other bodies. During review meetings in Udupi and Mangaluru on his maiden visit to the region as CM, Siddaramaiah said in the health index, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada, which were in first and third positions, respectively, in 2015 (Congress rule), slipped to the 18th and 23rd position now.
In the education index (SSLC results), he said Udupi and Dakshina Kannada fell to the 18th and 19th places from top positions in 2015. In comparison, the CM said a backward district like Chitradurga has shown significant progress in these two indexes. Pulling up officials for the coastal districts' fall from glory, he warned them of strict action if they fail to show marked improvement in the coming years.
BJP MLA Y Bharat Shetty said they were expecting the CM to announce funds to tackle sea erosion, construction of IT Park and others. But the cash-strapped government made a big issue about health and education indexes to divert people’s attention, he alleged.
Shetty maintained that Dakshina Kannada’s average Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) is better compared to the state’s average though there is a slight rise compared to the past. “There is nothing unusual in IMR and MMR of the district and it is in tandem with increase and decrease in the state,” he maintained.
Another BJP leader attributed these districts' fall in health and education indexes to the increased migration of labourers to the region over the years and maternity hospitals here getting patients in critical condition. “Many children of migrant labourers join school but do not even write the exams. Hospitals here get patients in critical condition from over a dozen neighbouring districts. All these factors have contributed to the issue,” he said.
MG Hegde, a Congress leader, denied that the CM was playing politics over the issue, saying BJP MLAs themselves should have raised these issues. He said in a number of meetings organised by the Congress to form the party’s election manifesto, industrialists, educationalists and others in the coastal region had raised serious concerns over the region’s fall from glory in education and health and had blamed divisive politics for this. The CM was just trying to address them, he added.