Mysuru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that he will present a White Paper in the legislature session about the financial situation during the five-year Congress rule and that of the BJP-led government.
He was speaking to media persons near his residence at Sharadadevinagar here on Wednesday.
Reacting to BJP’s tweet claiming the Congress is the ATM government, Siddaramaiah said, “They make politically motivated false allegations. People have rejected them.”
“It is the BJP that spent Rs 25 crore each for Operation Kamala and elections. Where did they get money from? They have turned the state bankrupt during their administration. BJP has no moral right to talk about the Congress. They have borrowed loans. When there was no money, they approved works, called tenders and left with pending bills worth Rs 30,000 crore. Who is responsible for this?” he questioned.
Siddaramaiah said, “BJP is making these allegations in view of the elections in five states. We have neither given money to any State nor taken money from them for election”.
He added, “BJP didn’t generate a single megawatt of electricity. If there is an electricity crisis in the state now, they are responsible for it. We had produced 16,000 megawatts of electricity, including solar power when Congress was in power. What have they done during their three-year 10-month tenure?”
“We are planning to buy electricity. All sugarcane factories have started functioning from Wednesday. So there would be co-generation of energy. We have passed an order that the power generated by private companies should be sold to our state only. It is not an artificially created electricity or energy deficit as H D Kumaraswamy has alleged. He is hiding the truth and telling lies”.
On Congress MLAs seeking ministers’ posts, he said, “There is nothing wrong if the MLAs aspire to become ministers. High command will decide about the cabinet expansion and others.”
(Published 25 October 2023, 18:09 IST)