From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Sakleshpur (Hassan), Jul 21: Union Steel Minister and JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy along with BJP opposition leader in the Assembly R Ashok visited the rain affected places in Sakleshpur in Hassan district to console the affected people on Sunday.

Kumaraswamy, however, used the occasion to attack the Congress government and especially targeted Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, for creating obstacles to prevent him from visiting the affected places and said the Congress leaders do not want him to visit the affected places.

“The Congress government does not want me visiting the State as an MP and Union Minister and has been creating hurdles during my visit,” he said speaking to media persons at Doddatappalu village in Sakleshpur taluk.

The JDS leader alleged that the State Government had asked the district administration to prevent him from visiting Shiroor in Uttara Kannada district on Saturday and had erected barricades at a distance of 5 kms and the media was obstructed from accompanying him to ensure that he should not get media coverage for his visits.

He, however, said the Hassan district administration had extended all cooperation and assistance during his visit of Sakleshpur taluk on Sunday..

The State Government has been asking the Centre for cooperation but is preventing an Union Minister from visiting the State, he said and attacked Shivakumar and other Congress ministers for their statements against him.

“I am an elected representative of the people and have every right to meet the people as my responsibility,” he said claiming that the Congress leaders do not want him to visit Mandya district and created obstacles in Uttara Kannada district on Saturday during his visit.

Kumaraswamy attacked Minister Mankal Vaidya, who is Uttara Kannada district in charge minister, for his statement that no government can give Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the rain affected families and mentioned that the government had provided houses to the people affected by landslides in Kodagu district in 2018 when he was the Chief Minister. The government had given another Rs 50,000 to affected families to buy essential things.

Promise to pursue Shiradi Ghat tunnel project

The Union Minister said he is aware of the devastation in Shiradi ghat and the bad condition of the roads. “I will take up the issue of building a tunnel along the road to smoothen traffic by discussing with the Union Minister for Highways,” he said.

Taking potshots at Shivakumar, who has said whether Kumaraswamy was visiting Ankola to take up rescue works along with para military forces, the JDS leader said he fails to understand the logic.

Lashing out at Shivakumar, the Union Minister said they are claiming that HD Kumaraswamy with 39 MLAs was made Chief Minister and his father H D Deve Gowda with 16 MPs was made Prime Minister. “But they don’t say, that they had pulled down our governments,” he said.

He asked: “Did I or Deve Gowda approach and beg Congress to make us CM or PM?” Kumaraswamy lashed out at Shivakumar that he wants to rename Ramanagara as Bengaluru South to aid his real estate business and friends and dump the garbage from Bengaluru there.

Kumaraswamy attacked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the MUDA site scam in Mysuru and accused that the land belonging to Dalits was swallowed in Siddaramaiah’s wife’s name.

He debunked the government’s claim that Siddaramaiah’s brother in law had gifted the land to the former’s wife and claimed that the land actually belonged to a Dalit. The final notification order was issued in 1992 and the person owning the land was not alive in 1998 when the land was acquired. “I have all the records and will expose the government,” he said.

The JDS alleged that a site in his name in Mysuru is being talked about. “My life is an open book. In 1985, I was allotted a 21,000 sq.ft. site in the industrial area, which has been duly paid. Somebody has constructed a building in the site and I ignored it as a construction has already taken place. I understand that my friends have obtained my signature without my knowledge. I learnt of all these things recently,” he claimed.

JDS leaders H K Kumaraswamy, C N Balakrishna, Swaroop Prakash, H K Suresh and others accompanied.