BELAGAVI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said the BJP government at the Centre has been able to resolve the long-drawn tussle between Karnataka and Goa to finally supply Mahadayi river waters to Karnataka. He was addressing the party’s Jana Sankalpa Yatra at MK Hubli, 25km from Belagavi on Saturday evening. Shah congratulated Karnataka leaders and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for diverting Mahadayi waters to Karnataka and helping the farmers here. “My huge congratulations to the leaders and CM of Karnataka for providing Mahadayi waters to dry areas of Karnataka. CM Bommai has done a great job,’’ he added.
Shah reminded the gathering about former AICC president Sonia Gandhi’s statement in Goa in 2007 that the Congress would not allow the diversion of Mahadayi waters to Karnataka and the announcement made in the Congress manifesto during the 2022 elections in Goa that her party would ensure that Karnataka would not get even a drop of Mahadayi waters.
“Today, I have come to tell you that the BJP resolved a long-drawn dispute between the two states and gave Mahadayi waters to Karnataka,’’ he added.
Shah’s remark comes a day after the Supreme Court decided to fix an early date for hearing the Goa government’s plea to cancel the approval given to the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) to Karnataka to implement the Kalasa-Banduri project.
‘A VOTE FOR JDS IS A VOTE FOR CONGRESS’
While thanking Bommai for putting up the portrait of Veer Savarkar in Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi, Shah said, the Jana Sankalpa Yatra which he launched in MK Hubli would mark the start of BJP’s election campaign in the state. He said the people of Karnataka had two choices to make in the assembly elections which are expected to be held in April-May.
“On the one side, you (voters) have two dynastic political parties — Congress and JDS and on the other the BJP headed by PM Narendra Modi, who has steered the nation to the top in the world. Every vote given to JDS will go to the Congress. By winning 25 to 30 seats with the help of the Congress, the JDS would do nothing but form a government and impose a dynastic rule on Karnataka. The Congress worked like the ATM of its Delhi bosses when it had formed the government. The Congress will dump the state neck-deep in corruption if it comes to power again,’’ he added.
On the new railway project, Shah said his government would ensure implementation of Dharwad-Kittur-Belagavi rail line at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore and establish a township on 1,000 acres in Kittur soon.
“It is possible to provide jobs to 50,000 people in Kittur’s township,’’ he said. Taking the credit for abrogation of Article 370, Shah said that the Congress and JDS had earlier stated that there would be a bloodbath in Kashmir if Article 370 was removed. “I would like to tell Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah that no one even dared to throw a pebble in Jammu and Kashmir (after the abrogation of Article 370),” he added.
GOA OPPN SLAMS SAWANT
The statement of Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulating Karnataka for getting Mahadayi waters to Karnataka has angered the Opposition parties in Goa. The Congress and Goa Forward have slammed the Goa CM Dr Pramod Sawant and said the Goa government was part of the decision to allow the diversion of Mahadayi to Karnataka. Goa Forward President Vijai Sardesai has demanded Sawant’s resignation if he cannot resolve the issue in Goa’s favour. Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Amit Patkar also slammed Sawant.