Yeddy, Supporters Court Arrest, to Decide Shettar Fate on January 4
Bangalore, Dec 26 (PTI): Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today stepped up his attack against the BJP government in the state and said his party Karnataka Janatha Paksha (KJP) would take a call on January four on whether the Jagadish Shettar-headed ministry should continue in office or not.
Addressing a meeting at Freedom Park before proceeding on a "Vidhana Soudha chalo" protest, Yeddyurappa, who quit BJP nearly a month ago, said the BJP government has lost its majority and has no moral right to continue in office.
"We will tell the Governor the government does not have support of (majority of) MLAs. It has lost majority", he said, adding, a meeting of KJP's office-bearers on January four would decide on "whether the government should continue or not".
Yeddyurappa, key leaders of KJP and workers were not allowed to proceed to Vidhan Soudha, the State Secretariat, to lay siege to it and were stopped some distance away, where they courted arrest.
As many as 14 BJP MLAs associated themselves at a rally earlier this month in Haveri, where Yeddyurappa formally launched KJP. Some 10 ministers had a breakfast meeting with him earlier that day but chose not to attend that rally.
At the meeting today at Freedom Park, Yeddyurappa launched a frontal attack on the Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, slamming him as "shameless", in deep slumber like Kumbakarna", and "sticking to his chair"
He alleged that the BJP government betrayed poor sections of the society in the last one year and two months -- after he had resigned as Chief Minister -- by stopping monthly social security pensions to the elderly, widow and physically handicapped under the wrong pretext of rechecking and reviewing the beneficiaries list.
"After I demitted office, monthly pensions have been stopped to 10 lakh beneficiaries (social security pensions)", he alleged, adding, the Government has neglected the "Bhagyalakshmi" scheme under which Rs 20,000 is deposited in the name of newly born girl child in the BPL families so that she gets Rs one lakh-plus when she attains the age of 18.