Bharatiya Janata Party State president B.Y. Vijayendra has urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to remove Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Priyank Kharge and Minister for Housing Zameer Ahmed Khan from the Ministry.
Addressing a press conference in Mysuru on Monday, he alleged that Mr. Kharge was behind the recent midnight assault on BJP leader Manikanth Rathod by Congress hoodlums in Kalaburagi.
He said goondaism had raised its ugly head not only in Kalaburagi and neighbouring districts after the Congress came to power in the State, but also across the State. He accused Mr. Kharge of displaying arrogance of power.
Mr. Vijayendra also demanded the resignation of Mr. Zameer Ahmed Khan for his reported utterances in Telangana during a poll rally.
“I will not repeat his words. But, his utterances were against the Constitution and democracy,” he said while asserting that all MLAs in the Vidhana Soudha, which is a temple of democracy, should be treated with respect.
Regretting that neither Mr. Siddaramaiah nor Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar had spoken against Mr. Khan’s statements, Mr. Vijayendra said the Chief Minister should immediately secure his resignation too.
The BJP leader criticised the Congress government in the State for doing precious little during its six months in office.
Though the State was facing a severe drought, the State Government, instead of taking up urgent measures to ameliorate the people’s suffering, was only training its guns on the Centre.
The Ministers in charge of the districts had not bothered to visit the drought-hit areas and speak to the people about their suffering. No steps had been taken to either provide interim relief to the people or arrange for drinking water or fodder to the cattle, he alleged.
Mr. Vijayendra, who said his goal was to make Karnataka the BJP’s fortress in South India by winning all the 28 seats in the Lok Sabha elections and secure a comfortable majority in the next Assembly elections, also assured to give equal importance to the elections to zilla and taluk panchayats.
