BENGALURU: Leader of Opposition R Ashoka on Wednesday said the quarrel between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar is reaching a new high and in order to hide this, the State Government has called a state legislature session later this month, to discuss repeal of MGNREGA.
Terming it a waste of taxpayers’ money, he said, “Issues of people have to be discussed in the session. When the Centre is trying to streamline the rural guarantee scheme which was being misused, why are Congress leaders protesting?’’
Ashoka said the State Government has decided to hold a session from January 22 to 31 to discuss the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yojana. “But a special session should be called to discuss drug mafia, illegal residents at Kogilu Cross, insult to Kannada in Kasaragod by the Kerala government and other such issues. If they have issues with the scheme, they should discuss them with the Central government, and not call a special session and waste taxpayers’ money,’’ he said.
He said the issue is that Mahatma Gandhi’s name has been removed. “Congress members talk about Gandhi, but don’t follow him. Gandhi had stressed that Congress must be dissolved, but many Congress parties came up. Gandhi was devoted to cows, but when BJP wanted to bring a bill banning cow slaughter, Congress opposed it. Gandhi spoke about Bhagavad Gita, but Congress opposed it in school curriculum. Gandhi fought for prohibition of liquor, but the Congress government has allowed liquor shops on every street. They give bar licences to those who pay Rs 2 crore,” he said.
Ashoka said CM Siddaramaiah has become a pauper after taking a loan of more than Rs 4 lakh crore, which is more than what all chief ministers combined have taken. “When there are so many problems, they are wasting people’s money by holding a session,’’ he said. Ashoka has also written to Speaker UT Khader to call a special session to discuss language issue, drug menace and other burning issues.