Kalasa- Banduri: AAP decries ‘double engine government’ fraud

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) Karnataka unit on Tuesday lambasted the state government for allegedly deceiving people over the Mahadayi drinking water project.

AAP leader and advocate for Karnataka in the Mahadayi River Dispute Tribunal, Brijesh Kalappa said that the Central and State BJP governments had misled the people of Karnataka regarding the implementation of the Kalasa Banduri project, adding that the Central Water Commission (CWC) had given permission only for the purpose of elections.

Kalappa informed that a similar approval had been given by an earlier union government back in 2002 and had amounted to nothing, thanks to it being challenged in courts.

“Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi has tweeted an undated letter (No. T-28027/2/2022-PA(S) DTE) on December 29, 2022, which appears to be a CWC permission letter related to the Mahadayi drinking water project. It is not right to pretend that the BJP's double engine government has done justice to Karnataka in the Mahadayi dispute”, Kalappa added.

“Earlier, the Central government gave in-principle approval to the project on April 30, 2002, even after considering concerns expressed by Goa. Even then, the same BJP-led NDA government was in power. Just five months later, on September 19, 2002, the BJP government suspended the in-principle agreement. We should not forget this betrayal by BJP to Karnataka,” Kalappa said.

“Since Goa government filed a case in Supreme Court in 2006, the Central Government on 22.10.2010, under the chairmanship of Supreme Court Judge JM Panchal, constituted Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT). After listening to the arguments of the governments of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, the MWDT gave its verdict on August 14, 2018.

If the BJP's argument is that the plan has now been approved by the CWC by the capability of the double-engine government, then the CWC should have approved the project on July 26, 2019, when the coalition government was brought down, and BS Yediyurappa became the Chief Minister. What was the need to wait until the elections were near?” Kalappa asked.

‘Saffron part tied to suicides’  “In April 2022, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader and contractor Santosh Patil committed suicide by writing the name of KS Eshwarappa, who was then a minister.

Then on December 31, Prasad, a contractor of the Public Works Department, committed suicide in Tumakuru. On January 1, 2023, businessman Prasad committed suicide and named BJP MLA Arvind Limbavali.

The police did not arrest the ministers and MLAs in these cases. But the police arrested 84-year-old Kempanna, the president of the contractors' association, who exposed the government’s commission scam, ”Kalappa said.