Bengaluru: State Congress leaders are seeing red at the launch of a slew of development projects worth around Rs 10,000 crore in Hassan and Mandya by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy over the last fortnight allegedly with an eye of the fast approaching Lok Sabha polls.
The preferential treatment for these two districts at the cost of several backward districts of Mumbai-Karnatak and Hyderabad -Karnatak has not gone down well with Congress leaders, who have brought it to the attention of former Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah and the party leadership in the state.
When asked about the discontent, KPCC working president, Eshwar Khadre said if his party workers brought any injustice done to their region by the government, he would discuss the matter at the appropriate forum." This (preferential treatment) cannot be allowed as the Congress party believes in overall development of Karnataka and not a few districts," he added.
He however, said that although the Chief Minister had announced projects worth Rs 5,000 crore for Mandya district and around Rs 5500 crore for Hassan, they would take a long time to become a reality. "Every work has to pass through various procedures such as preparation of detailed project reports, sanctions from the department concerned, Cabinet approval and ultimately clearance from the finance department. So the projects for which Mr Kumaraswamy has laid foundation stones will be spread over five years," he contended.
Mr Khandre, however, admitted that he had found during his statewide tour that Raichur, Yadgir, Koppal and parts of Ballari were in a pitiable condition when compared to south Karnataka districts like Mysuru, Hassan, Mandya and Ramanagara. The Congress party was committed to development of Karnataka as a whole, but wanted special preference to be given to backward and most backward districts that lacked basic amenities, he said. "I am optimistic that the Chief Minister will take note of this and release sufficient grants for the development of these districts too," he added.
