Bangalore: It's Siddu vs Yeddy over 'Shaadi Bhagya'
Narayana Swamy
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Oct 5: The cold war between chief minister (CM) Siddaramaiah and former CM B S Yeddyurappa continues, and this time, the bone of contention is the state government's ambitious project 'Shaadi Bhagya' which is aimed at providing financial assistance to needy Muslim brides.
Reacting to the protest from opposition parties, minister for minorities welfare Qamar-ul-Islam clarified that the scheme would be extended to deserving women of other religious minorities such as Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs and Parsis and the conditions for getting the financial benefit will be the same for all. The bride should have crossed the age of 18 and the groom 21, and the annual income of the family of the woman seeking the benefit should be less than Rs 1.5 lac. A budgetary allocation of Rs 5 crore has been made for the scheme and if needed, it would be increased.
But B S Yeddyurappa resorted to dharna in Bangalore, and since October 31 he has been demanding that the government extend the Shaadi Bhagya scheme not only to minorities, but to all the poor women irrespective of communities in the state. Yeddyurappa declared that he would continue to protest until an official announcement in this regard comes from the government, and warned that he would also protest along with his party members during the forthcoming Assembly session in Belgaum.
"CM Siddaramaiah is acting like a dictator; he does not have respect for democracy. He should cater to the sentiments of people from all walks of life and communities. He cannot continue as CM with this kind of attitude," he said during the protest on Monday November 4.
Reacting sharply to Yeddyurappa's outburst, Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said that Yeddyurappa need not teach him about democracy. "He does not even have the moral right to comment on democracy; the entire state knows how Yeddyurappa acted when we (Congress as opposition party) sat on dharna inside the Assembly day and night. He had insulted us by saying that 'sanctity of assembly was spoiled by eating Biryani'."
Meanwhile, despite lack of media attention, Yeddyurappa and around 500 KJP activists contiued their dharna for the sixth day on Tuesday.