Will answer Opposition in winter session, says CM Siddaramaiah

NT Correspondent

Haveri: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday expressed confidence that he would be able to answer the questions posed by the Opposition parties BJP and JD(S) in the winter session in Belagavi.

The session is set to start at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on Monday.

The Opposition parties led by recently appointed Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Assembly R Ashoka and JD(S) legislature party HD Kumaraswamy is preparing to grill the State government over corruption allegations, including claims of cash for transfer, Cauvery river water sharing with Tamil Nadu and its handling of the drought in the state, apart from other issues.

The CM made the comments during his official visit to Haveri district on Wednesday.

“The government is ready to answer all questions of the Opposition parties in the winter session in Belagavi. The session would be utilized to discuss the issues of north Karnataka,” Siddaramaiah said.

He also sought to turn the tables on the BJP asking them why it hadn’t released drought relief that was due to Karnataka despite being in power at the Centre.

“There is a drought in 12 states of the country. A central team had visited the state to study the drought. However, drought relief has not been released by the Centre. They haven’t released the amount that is due to the state,” he added.

Siddaramaiah also criticised the Union government for not increasing the number of job days from 100 to 150 under the Centrally-funded Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in view of the drought in the state.

The Act aims to give guaranteed employment to rural workers for limited days in the year. It was passed under the first term of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

CM slams HDK over lawyer jibe The CM hit back at JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy for claiming that he had withdrawn the case against his deputy DK Shivakumar merely because the former was a lawyer.