Belagavi: The ‘Prajadhwani yatra’ of opposition Congress leaders, intended to draw attention to what they regarded to be the State Government’s failures and the party’s plan for development, will begin on Wednesday January 11 in the District. On the first day of the yatra, KPCC President D. K. Shivakumar, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and other senior leaders will attend events in Belagavi and Chikkodi. From January 12 to January 15, they will take a Sankranti break before starting the yatra again on January 16.
During a press conference with Siddaramaiah and other senior leaders, Shivakumar said, “We will highlight failures of the BJP Government and our vision for Karnataka during the bus yatra. In addition to launching a website to get opinions from the public, the party released a booklet detailing several allegations made against the BJP Government.”
Shivakumar claimed that the government had failed on all fronts and that corruption was rampant and government has not fulfilled 550 of the 600 promises made during the last elections.
Siddaramaiah said that Basavaraj Bommai is a weak Chief Minister who has not protected the state’s interests. The allocation of Rs. 5,495 Crore in special grants to the state was recommended by the 15th Finance Commission in its interim report, but Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, rejected that recommendation, he added.
The State Government and 25 BJP MPs from the state did not put pressure on the Centre, hence the recommendation was dropped from the final report, he said. The state’s development efforts have suffered and the debt load has grown as a result of a decrease in grants from the Centre, said Siddaramaiah.
‘The people of Karnataka are disgusted with the present government. During the yatra, the party leaders would make an effort to understand their problems and expectations,” he added.
