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The Karnataka BJP criticised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, accusing him of prioritising Kerala’s Wayanad over Karnataka’s pressing issues. This comes a day after Siddaramaiah wrote to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, questioning the latter’s silence on Karnataka’s offer to build 100 houses for Wayanad landslide victims.
Siddaramaiah made the pledge in 2024 following devastating landslides in Wayanad. His recent letter highlighted Kerala’s silence on guidelines to implement the project.
BJP leaders slammed the move, citing Karnataka’s struggles. BJP Karnataka on social media platform, X, labelled Siddaramaiah as a “scam CM” and accused his government of failing Karnataka, pointing to infant and maternal deaths, unpaid workers, and crumbling infrastructure. They questioned why taxpayers’ money was being directed to another state.
“Taxpayers’ money is being diverted to buy land and build houses in Kerala, a blatant attempt to appease the ‘crown prince’ Rahul Gandhi,” read the post.
Dr Bharath Shetty, BJP MLA, criticised the government for neglecting housing in Karnataka under schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, while BJP MLC CT Ravi called the Wayanad project an attempt to “please the High Command”.
The Congress, on the other hand, defended Siddaramaih’s efforts to help Wayanad. Minister Ramalinga Reddy countered the BJP’s allegations, stating, “Modi government has provided financial aid worth over Rs 9,000 crore to countries like Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Is Kerala not a part of India? Helping Wayanad is a matter of humanity.”
Congress MLC Nagaraj Yadav also defended the project, pointing to the state’s extensive housing initiatives under the Siddaramaiah government from 2013 to 2018. “We built lakhs of houses then. The BJP, during its tenure, didn’t construct even a single house. Helping neighboring states in distress is the spirit of a federal system,” he added.
A few weeks ago, Vijayanagar MLA HR Gaviyappa sparked controversy by suggesting that guarantee schemes hindered housing projects. His remarks led to a strong rebuttal from Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who reiterated the party’s commitment to its guarantees and announced plans to issue a show-cause notice to Gaviyappa for his statements.
Despite these allegations by a Congress leader, Siddaramaiah doubled down on his commitment to the Wayanad housing initiative.
