Bangalore: Leaders of the state unit of BJP on Monday slammed energy minister D.K. Shivakumar for “poor handling” of his department, and charged that the minister was trying to oust Chief Minister Siddaramaiah by deliberately announcing load shedding in order to sully the leader’s image.
Speaking to media persons here, state unit president Pralhad Joshi charged: “By resorting to load shedding, energy minister D.K. Shivakumar wants to bring a bad name to the Chief Minister. His intention is to unseat Siddaramaiah and take over as the Chief Minister. He has failed to handle the energy department efficiently because he is constantly eying the Chief Minister’s post.”
Mr. Joshi charged that leaders of the ruling Congress were trying to portray Karnataka as a power-deficit state. Due to unscheduled load shedding, farmers were not receiving adequate electricity. Though power generated by hydro-electric plants was sufficient to meet the state’s demand, the government was resorting to unnecessary load shedding, he said adding that earlier Mr. Shivakumar had promised to provide electricity for 17 hours but has now failed to supply for at least two-hours.
In response to a question, he said leaders of his party were not copying schemes and programmes launched by Congress. Leaders of Congress had launched a disinformation campaign against his colleagues, he added.
On denotification of land in Arkavathy layout, Mr. Joshi alleged that due to non-co-operation on the part of the state government, his party had not able to collect documents pertaining to denotification. His party, however, would raise the issue again during the forthcoming winter session of legislature in Belgaum, he added.
Earlier addressing party workers, Mr. Joshi urged them to get ready for the forthcoming BBMP, zilla panchayat and taluk panchayat elections. He said they should be prepared to face these polls though the state government was trying to post pone them.
