‘Only Great Soul To Survey Drought From Helicopter’: Vijayendra Takes Dig At Shivakumar

Koppal: BJP state president BY Vijayendra wondered how Chief Minister DK Shivakumar could understand the plight of drought-hit farmers from a helicopter, asking whether he could even tell paddy from ragi while looking at the fields from the air.

Speaking on the fourth day of the BJP’s padayatra at Karatagi of Koppal district, Vijayendra said farmers were struggling with crop losses and the Chief Minister should have been on the ground visiting their fields instead of conducting an aerial survey.

“DK Shivakumar is perhaps the only great soul in the country to have inspected drought from a helicopter,” he said sarcastically.

Vijayendra suggested that the Chief Minister was staying away from the fields fearing that farmers might question him over their problems.

“If he goes to the fields, he may have to face the farmers and their anger. We are unfortunate to have such a Chief Minister. If he sits in a helicopter and looks down, how will he know which is paddy and which is ragi?” he asked.

He said the BJP had taken up the padayatra against what he termed a “corrupt, anti-people and anti-farmer” Congress government, alleging that it had failed to respond to the worsening distress among farmers.

“More than 3,600 farmers have died by suicide in the state in the last three years. Around 950 of them were from Kalyana Karnataka. This Congress government has not responded to the problems of the farmers who feed the state, leaving them desperate,” he said.

Vijayendra also targeted the government over the availability of water for the second crop. He alleged that despite having around 70 TMC of water in the reservoir, a minister had refused to release water when farmers demanded it.

“Is he bringing the water from his father’s house?” Vijayendra asked, accusing the minister of speaking arrogantly and alleging that the minister was drunk with power.

He claimed that the previous BJP government had released water for the second crop even when the reservoir had only around 30 TMC of water.

“The BJP has the strength to put an end to this arrogance and misuse of power,” he said.

Responding to Shivakumar’s criticism of the BJP padayatra, Vijayendra alleged that the Chief Minister was himself assessing the drought from Bengaluru through video conferences instead of visiting the affected areas.

“He sits in Bengaluru and conducts the drought assessment through video conferences. Even the DC and district officials are sitting in their rooms instead of going to the fields,” he alleged.

Vijayendra said the government had initially declared 101 taluks drought-hit and announced another 25 after the BJP began its padayatra.