Congress govt. has not released area development fund of MLAs since it came to power, says Kateel

Former BJP Karnataka president criticizes state government for not releasing funds, expresses confidence in party's candidate for byelection.

Nalin Kumar Kateel, former Member of Parliament for Dakshina Kannada on Saturday, October 5, alleged that the State government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has not released the area development fund to any MLA since the Congress government came to power.

Addressing presspersons, Mr. Kateel, a former president of the Karnataka unit of BJP, claimed that the government has also not released money due to the beneficiaries of its guarantee schemes of Gruha Lakshmi and Yuva Nidhi.

Mr. Kateel alleged that though the Union government has released rice to the State, the government is not distributing it among the poor.

Alleging that the Congress government in the State comprises “80% thieves”, Mr. Kateel said that Mr. Siddaramaiah has lost moral rights to continue in the office over the MUDA scam. The Chief Minister speaks politics even in Dasara programme, he said.

The former MP said that the Union government has strengthened the gram panchayats and other local bodies by directly releasing grants to them.

He exuded confidence that the voters will support the BJP candidate Kishore Kumar Puttur in the October 21 byelection to the Legislative Council from Dakshina Kannada Local Authorities’ Constituency.

To a question, Mr. Kateel said that he was not an aspirant to contest the byelection.