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After the drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has initiated the ‘Grama Vaastavya’, or village stay, programme to keep his party afloat and boost the prospects of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government in the State.
Terming it a ‘publicity stunt’, the BJP has slammed the move.
Kumaraswamy, during his earlier stint as Chief Minister in 2006-07, had introduced and popularised the ‘Grama Vaastavya’ in north Karnataka. Taking a cue from that experiment, he re-started the scheme in Chandaraki village in Gurumitkal Taluk of Yadgir district last week.
This time, he plans to stay only in government schools instead of villagers’ homes. After a successful interaction and stay at Chandaraki, he planned to stay at Herur-B village in Afzalpur taluk of Kalaburagi district, but had to abandon his plans because of heavy rain.
BJP miffed
The revival of the programme has not gone down well with the BJP. To debunk Kumarawamy’s ‘Grama Vaastavya’ initiative, the party has decided to highlight the failures of Kumaraswamy’s previous village stays. The party has come out with a booklet titled Grama Yatsavya - Shoonya Saadane (Village stay, a zero achievement).
While releasing the booklet on Monday, BJP State president BS Yeddyurappa lashed out at Kumaraswamy’s initiative and said the Chief Minister spent ₹1.20 crore for his one-day stay, made false promises and came back mid-way with an excuse of heavy rains.”
Yeddyurappa, also the Leader of the Opposition in State Legislature,further said: “Grama Yatsavya is just a cover-up of his failures to ensure good governance in State in the last 13 months. We (BJP) have conducted a fact-finding study on Kumaraswamy’s previous stays in 42 villages. Now, the villages are in a pathetic condition and things have not improved at all.”
Later, Yeddyurappa posed 10 questions to the Chief Minister, including: Do you have answers for the deaths of 1,500 farmers who committed suicide while you spent 13 months in the Taj West End hotel? What happened to the promise of farm-loan waiver of ₹48,000 crore? But even after 13 months, you have not done it.
Responding to Yeddyurappa, Kumaraswamy tweeted: “Silence is the answer to a meaningless question.”
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