Siddaramaiah defends government action, says we are managing drought efficiently

Mysuru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was on Friday dismissive of state BJP, chief, B S Yeddyurappa’s threat to bring two lakh people to gherao Vidhan Soudha to protest the state’s poor drought relief measures.

“If he assembles two lakh people, we will assemble four lakh. He is not the only strongman in Karnataka,” he declared, claiming that the drought was being managed very efficiently. “There is absolutely no problem,” he contended.

Asked when the state planned to submit its report on the drought to the Union government, he said he would personally do so when he went to Delhi next. He was speaking to reporters near his home in Sharadadevinagar here.

About the government’s stress on providing employment to villagers and expecting them to work under the hot sun in temperatures of 45 degrees in places like Gulbarga, he said, “Yes, drinking water, employment and fodder for animals have been our priorities.

We need to give employment. We will give employment to whoever seeks it. And wherever there is no source of water, we will provide drinking water through tankers until it rains. In Aland alone, 130 villages do not have water source and we are providing them water through tankers,” he added.