Progress on Mekedatu project is recorded in files: Karjol

Terming the Congress’s padayatra from Mekedatu ‘a stunt for publicity’, Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol on Wednesday said that the Congress had no genuine intention for the implementation of the project.

“All the documents and files related to Mekedatu is with the Water Resources Department. A perusal of these documents show how the project progressed under different Governments. There is nothing to lie,” he told presspersons here. “The Congress, however, is stating that the documents in the department are a lie. The documents show how Karnataka lost out when the Congress was in power owing to laziness and lack of accountability.

He said that the Congress leaders were using bad language throughout the padayatra, and that the voters would teach them a lesson. “Even during the Sindhgi byelections, Congress leaders, including Siddaramaiah, belittled Dalit leaders and voters taught them a good lesson by electing a BJP candidate,” he alleged.

The Minister said that while the Congress came to power in 2013 by undertaking a padayatra in Krishna basin, it didn’t do justice to Krishna basin districts. “This time they are doing the same thing through their padayatra in Cauvery basin. The Congress does not have the commitment to implement what it says while in Opposition. It promised ₹10,000 crore for Krishna basin each year and ended up spending ₹7,728 crore in five years, and this is still fresh in the memory of people. It spent just about ₹2,370 crore on upper Krishna project 3,” he added

He said documents in the department have details about what the BJP has done. "The trust deficit is with the Congress and not for BJP or the Government."