Prove me wrong and Shanta will opt out, says B Sriramulu

Ballari: Riled by the remarks of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and other Congress leaders against him, BJP MLA, B Sriramulu on Tuesday challenged the party to prove that it had given more funds for the development of Ballari than the BJP.

“I will tell my sister, who is the BJP candidate for the Ballari Lok Sabha bypoll , to withdraw if the Congress leaders can prove that they gave the district even 10 rupees more than the BJP,” he offered soon after garlanding the statute of Maharishi Valmiki here on the occasion of  Valmiki Jayanthi on Wednesday..

“Congress leaders, who are questioning my contribution to the development of Ballari, should release a white paper on their contribution. I don't want to win this by-poll if they are proved right and will persuade my sister to withdraw from the fray,” the Valmiki community strongman added. Responding to him, Water Resources Minister, D K Shivakumar, who accompanied KPCC president, Dinesh Gundu Rao to also garland Maharishi Valmiki’s statute, told reporters later with sarcasm that  he accepted the challenge thrown by Mr Sriramulu and was ready to face a media trial.

“I agree that Sriramulu brought funds and kept them,” he quipped.

Recalling that the last Congress government in the state had allocated Rs 27,000 crore for the welfare of the scheduled tribes, he claimed this was the highest among all states in the country. 

“We strongly believe that the Valmiki community will back the Congress party in the Ballari LS constituency, which is reserved for scheduled tribes,” he added.

On Tuesday, Mr Gundu Rao had challenged Mr Sriramulu to release a video clip of him speaking in the Lok Sabha about Ballari's issues as the latter had claimed he had frequently raised them in parliament.