DAVANAGERE, CHITRADURGA: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday almost declared that Jagalur MLA S V Ramachandra will be the party’s candidate in the 2023 Assembly election, when he sought the mandate again for the latter.
Addressing the party’s Jan Sankalp Yatra, the CM said that he is filled with strength on seeing the crowd and added that the people are ready to script the future of the state by voting the BJP back to power.
“Our double engine government made development possible. You have seen the work in the five years of the Congresss rule and in 3.5 years of BJP rule. When I was Water Resources Minister under Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, he had released Rs 60 crore for the development of 57 lakes in Jagalur taluk”, he noted.
Listing out the achievements of the BJP government, he said, “Grants of Rs 1,400 crore were released for the Upper Bhadra project and 45,000 acres will come under drip irrigation. Thirty lakh houses have been provided with tap water connections in the last three years and safe drinking water is being provided in 154 villages, for which Rs 840 crore has been released. The Upper Bhadra project will be declared a national project. The state has allocated Rs 3,000 crore for it and the Centre will provide Rs 16,000 crore”, he noted.
Taking on the previous Congress government, he said they indulged in corruption in Anna Bhagya scheme, purchase of beds and blankets and did injustice to the poor in the name of social justice.
“No other government had dared to touch the reservation issue, but we dared to increase reservation for SCs and STs. Ours is an empathetic government. We started the Raitha Vidya Nidhi for children of farmers. We are giving Rs 5 lakh to Stree Shakti Sanghas so that women can become independent. Twenty thousand shepherd families are also getting aid. The Tumakuru-Davanagere railway line work will start in January and if land is identified, we will develop an airport in the district. An industrial corridor on 1,000 acres is also planned”, the CM said.
Earlier in the day, the CM arrived in Chitradurga by helicopter and inaugurated the ‘Kanoon Soudha’ and the Saraswati Law College premises. He was accompanied by cabinet colleagues Govind Karjol and Byrathi Basavaraj.
On the JD(S) pitch for a Dalit or Muslim as CM, he said it is that party’s internal matter. Regarding the Murugha Mutt issue, he said the deputy commissioner’s report is with the Law Department and suitable action will be taken.