From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Shivamogga, Apr 22: With BJP trying to corner Congress government over the murder of Hubballi college student Neha Hiremath, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday swung into action and entrusted the entire investigation to the Corps of Detectives (COD) and also announced the setting up of a Special Court to ensure speedy trial.

“The COD will take over the entire investigation and the special court will conduct the trial in a time-bound manner,” he said speaking to media persons in Shivamogga.

Responding to BJP charge that the Chief Minister has not visited and met the parents of the deceased girl, Siddaramaiah said the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil has already visited along with Congress party workers and leaders.

“I will meet the parents when I go to Dharwad,” he said and made it clear that the State Government is very serious about the investigation.

The Chief Minister said the Congress party would request the Dingaleshwar Swamiji to withdraw his candidature from Dharwad parliamentary constituency against Union Minister Prahlad Joshi and appealed to the Swamiji to declare his support to the Congress candidate.

He said the Congress party needs the support of the Dingaleshwar Mutt Swamiji as it is a secular religious body and the Swamiji’s fight is against Prahlad Joshi.

The Chief Minister said the State Government has made suitable arrangements to ensure that there was no drinking water problem due to the drought conditions and the delay in monsoon and also to see that fodder is available to the cattle.

The Chief Minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is duty-bound to take care of all citizens, irrespective of their castes and religion.

“Modi’s public utterances that the Congress party and INDIA block would snatch the mangalasutra from Hindu women and distribute to Muslim women was totally wrong and not befitting the person holding the Prime Minister’s post. He should not stoop to such low tactics to polarise the voters,” he said condemning Modi’s statements.

The Chief Minister defended the ruling Congress party’s advertisement campaign against BJP and Modi depicting zero contribution or ‘chombu’ meaning empty pot to the State and Kannadigas and said BJP should first rectify the injustice in devolution of funds and grant approvals to all pending projects.

He said, “Modi rule has been a total failure as the BJP has not implemented any of its promises during the last 10 years. We strongly condemn the step-motherly attitude of Centre and Modi against Karnataka.”

Denouncing BJP National President J P Nadda’s statement that Congress party is the fountainhead of corruption, Siddaramaiah said: “Everybody knows BJP is a washing machine. All those facing ED, IT raids and facing corruption charges jump to BJP and all the cases are washed off. They become squeaky clean.”

The Chief Minister wanted to know why BJP leaders are not facing any ED,IT raids and investigations. “Are B S Yediyurappa, B Y Vijayendra and other leaders non-corrupt? Why raids and investigations are not taking place against Shobha Karandlaje, R Ashok, Basavaraj Bommai? If BJP is so honest and non-corrupt, how come all the BJP candidates have amassed crores of rupees worth of assets and properties,” he asked.

The Chief Minister denounced JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy for alleging that the State exchequer has become bankrupt due to guarantees and said the government has set apart Rs 36,000 crore for guarantees this year and another Rs 52,009 crore for next year. As much as Rs 1.20 crore has been allocated for developmental works.

“Just because Kumaraswamy and his father H D Deve Gowda have aligned with BJP despite their claim to being secular to ensure the family’s political survival, Kumaraswamy cannot go on making baseless charges,” he said.

Responding to Kumaraswamy’s charge that law and order situation has collapsed under Congress rule, Siddaramaiah said the situation is much better when compared to Kumaraswamy’s rule. “When Kumaraswamy was ruling the State in 2022, the number of criminal incidents was 1370 as against 1,295 in 2023,” he said.