Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had some uncomfortable moments in the Legislative Assembly on Monday as the BJP came down heavily on his government for conducting "homas" to appease the rain Gods when it had drawn up an anti-superstition Bill to fight such practices.
His contention that Water Resources Minister, M B Patil, was merely following his personal beliefs in organising the "Parjanya Homa" to appeal to the Gods for rain and the government had nothing to do with it, did not cut ice with the opposition, which claimed the pooja was conducted by a chief engineer of the water resources department.
Leader of the opposition in the House, Jagadish Shettar deplored that the government had failed to tackle the drought for the last three years, and was now resorting to poojas to fight it at public expense.
As the BJP members continued to relentlessly target his government, Mr Siddaramaiah shot back that it had not paid for the homa, and it was conducted privately. But BJP member, K G Bopaiah intervened to say that the pooja was organised by a chief engineer of the Water Resources Department at Talacauvery just before Minister Patil arrived to perform it. " If this was not a government function, why did the engineer organise the entire homa?" he demanded.
When Chickmagalur MLA, C T Ravi said the government should practice what it preached. Mr Siddaramaiah continued to insist that the homa was Minister Patil's idea. "I don't encourage rituals that harm people,'' he added.
