Announcing that he will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections again from Chickballapur constituency, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily said here on Saturday, September 23, that he would explain the reasons for the delay in completing the Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water Supply Project, aimed at supplying water to parched areas in Karnataka, including Chickballapur, later in the constituency.
Mr. Moily was the Member of Parliament from Chickballapur for two terms from 2009 to 2019. He lost to BJP’s B.N. Bachhe Gowda in 2019.
To a question at a press conference in Mangaluru, Mr. Moily said his won Harsha Moily would not contest the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Responding to questions about the Yettinahole project, Mr. Moily, who is one of the architects of the project, said, “It’s a closed chapter and I do not want to answer any questions about it.”
When pointed out at allegations by green activists that the project had resulted in the depletion of water level in the Netravati, the lifeline of Dakshina Kannada, Mr. Moily said the allegations were baseless as not a single drop of water had been lifted so far from the project to the parched regions.
When asked if the project initiated by him and former BJP Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda was a failure, Mr. Moily said the project had been continued by subsequent governments. “I do not have to answer anything here. I will explain the reasons for the delay (in the implementation of the project) in Chickballapur,” he said.
On the recent statements of senior Congress leader B.K. Hariprasad against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Mr. Moily said Mr. Hariprasad had violated the party discipline by speaking about party affairs in the open. The party’s disciplinary committee had issued a notice to him, he said.
Mr. Moily said the party high command had deferred the demand for appointing three Deputy Chief Ministers in Karnataka and opinions expressed by some partymen on this matter were their individual statements. The Congress government was strong in Karnataka, he added.
