Kalaburagi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday took strong exception to the allegation by state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa that the lives of honest officers are not safe under the Congress rule in the state.
Mr Siddaramaiah sternly cautioned the BJP leader to speak with greater accountability. “Those who issue such statements should have records to substantiate their allegations. There is no truth in the allegation that corruption in the Food and Civil Supplies Department was the cause of IAS officer Anurag Tiwari’s death. If he has proof let him release it. The state government has already held talks with Tiwari’s family members and we will cooperate in the CBI probe,” he said.
Taking a dig, he said, “Mr Yeddyurappa had opposed the farm loan waiver when he was the deputy chief minister. Now he is asking for it. First let him pressurise the Centre to waive off the loans given by nationalised banks. We will then take care of loans given by cooperative banks.”
He chided the Modi government, which completed three years in office on Friday, for “U-turns” on several promises made. “The big achievement of Mr Modi is of giving sermons and rechristening flagship schemes of the erstwhile UPA government. Neither the Centre nor states have benefitted from this change of names,” he said.
He refused to rate the performance of the central government, saying, “When Mr Modi has not appeared for exams, where is the question of assessing his performance?” On Centre’s move to ban the sale of cattle for slaughter at animal markets across the country, he said his government will examine it, once it received the copy of the notification. “There is nothing new in the Centre’s notification, such a provision exists in the state,” he said.
