Centre ignoring Karnataka leaders, says Dr G Parameshwar

Bengaluru: The ruling Congress on Tuesday accused the Centre of adopting a step-motherly attitude towards non-BJP ruled states after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge were given invitation for a railway line inauguration at the last moment. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the 107-km Bidar-Kalaburagi railway line, built at a cost of Rs 1,542 crore, on October 29. Siddaramaiah had skipped the inauguration of the new line expressing displeasure over being invited at the last moment for the function at Bidar. Kharge too had stayed away from it on similar grounds.

“This type of attitude is against the federal structure of the Constitution,” KPCC President Dr G. Parameshwar said while addressing a meeting to review the door-to-door campaign by the Gundlupet Block Congress Committee here. 

“The BJP should bear in mind that the chief minister represents six-and-a-half crore Kannadigas,” he said. 

Pointing out that the Karnataka government had shared 50 per cent of the cost for the Bidar-Kalaburagi railway project, Dr Parameshwar felt that both Siddaramaiah and Kharge should have been informed and requested to participate in the programme well in time. “Ignoring the chief minister and informing him at the last minute, as also ignoring the Congress party's floor leader in the Lok Sabha, was improper and in bad taste,” he said. He expressed confidence that the Congress party would return to power with a comfortable majority in the assembly elections.