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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah's Modi jibe sparks Twitter war

Hitting back, BJP state unit chief BS Yeddyurappa said the state had become 'No.1 in corruption' under the Congress.

Bengaluru: A verbal duel of sorts broke out on Twitter between the BJP and the Congress ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Mr Modi’s rally in the poll-bound state marked the conclusion of the BJP’s 90-day Parivarthana Yatra and the beginning of its poll campaign in one of the few Congress-held states. Welcoming the PM, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah however took a jibe at him tweeting, “I am glad you are making time to visit the country’s start-up & innovation hub, Namma Bengaluru today. On behalf of my people, I urge you to find the time for Karnataka’s drinking water needs & help us resolve the Mahadayi dispute (sic).” He also tweeted that Karnataka was the “No. 1 state in investments, innovation and progressive policies”.

Hitting back, BJP state unit chief BS Yeddyurappa said the state had become 'No.1 in corruption' under the Congress. Even JD(S) state president, H. D. Kumaraswamy took to Twitter and raised the Mahadayi issue tweeting — “?Welcome to Karnataka. You may be the son of Gujarat but you are PM for entire country. I hope you will address the long pending Mahadayi issue and intervene. This at least will bring some good news for the farmers of north Karnataka.”

Mr Yeddyurappa in a retort to CM Siddaramaiah's tweet, wrote: "Thanks for the welcome CM @siddaramaiah avare! Yes. Karnataka indeed has scripted several firsts - No.1 Corrupt State, 3,500+ farmer suicides, collapse of law & order, mysterious deaths of officers, transfers of honest officials, crumbling infra of Bengaluru.” He ended the message with #KarnatakaTrustsModi.

The state BJP too replied sarcastically to the CM’s tweet and said, “Dear @cmofkarnataka pls tell them2 rewrite the sloganeering, “welcome to the most corrupt state under cong”, “welcome to the state where 3,500 farmers hav committed suicide”, “welcome to the state where d sleeping sarkar failed to spend even 50 percent of budget estimation”! Karnataka is demanding 7.56 TMC feet water from the Mahadayi to meet its drinking water needs in the Mumbai-Karnataka region. The state wants to build barrages across Kalasa and Banduri, two tributaries of Mahadayi which can supply water to 180 villages and Hubli-Dharwad twin cities. When S.M. Krishna was the Chief Minister, he started work on the project in 2002. The BJP government in Goa led by CM Manohar Parrikar objected to it and his government approached the Supreme Court demanding cancellation of the project citing ecological reasons.

The Mahadayi river is known as Mandovi river in Goa. The Goa capital Panaji is on the banks of Mandovi. This rain-fed river originates at Bhimghad in Belagvi district of Karnataka. Renowned water expert, the late S.G. Balekundri had first planned Mahadayi water diversion in 1970. The plan was to feed Malaprabha river and store the water in Navilatirtha dam in Karnataka's Dharwad district. This dam, built in the 1970s, has not been filled to its capacity, except three or four times.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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