CM Siddaramaiah offers bagina at Almatti dam, defends ballot paper use for local body polls

VIJAYAPURA: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, accompanied by other ministers and MLAs, performed Ganga puja and offered bagina to the Krishna river at the Lal Bahadur Shastri dam at Almatti in Nidagundi taluk on Saturday. The dam has reached full storage level and was decorated for the occasion.

The CM arrived by a chartered flight from Bengaluru to the Basapura aerodrome in Koppal district and from there, he flew by helicopter to the Almatti dam. Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, who was on the same flight disembarked much later, after the CM had received the guard of honour, and joined the CM late when he was speaking to media persons.

Speaking to media persons before proceeding to Almatti dam, CM Siddaramaiah said he is with public opinion on the Baldota Steel and Power Ltd (BSPL) issue, but added that the Centre’s nod is necessary. “When the issue was raised with Union minister H D Kumaraswamy, he did not react”, the CM noted.

On the issue of ballot papers for local body polls, he said, “Why is the BJP afraid? Many developed nations have switched back to ballot papers. When I had contested elections from here, it was said there was errors in counting of votes, but I didn’t say it was because of ballot papers”.