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NEW DELHI: A war of words erupted between the BJP and the Congress over a viral video showing Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah travelling in a private jet along with some of his ministers. The BJP, citing the severe drought in Karnataka, took swipe at Siddaramaiah for flaunting “rich fortunes and luxury lifestyles.” However, the Karnataka CM hit back at the BJP and questioned the flying preferences of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the video, Siddaramaiah is seen seated in a swanky private jet along with housing minister Zameer Ahmed Khan and revenue minister Krishna Byre Gowda, among others.The video was posted by Khan with a message in Kannada: “Happy moments of traveling from Delhi to Bengaluru with our proud leader, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.”
Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra in a post of ‘X’ said: “If bigotry had a face, @INCKarnataka govt would be the Best of it! At a time, when whole of Karnataka is reeling under severe drought, farmers staring at the worst of crisis with loss of crops & no rainfall & hardly any development works taking off, all that @CMofKarnataka & his team of cabinet ministers could think of is flaunting their Rich Fortunes & Luxury Lifestyles over the poor damsels of the State!”
“By the way, they were traveling in this luxurious aircraft to seek funds for drought relief works! What a crude mockery of our distress! Splurging the Taxpayers’ money comes so easy for @INCIndia ministers!” Vijayendra said in the social media post.
When asked about Vijayendra’s tweet, Siddaramaiah targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreigh trips and the money spent on them. He also reminded the BJP about the money spent by the saffron party in “Operation Lotus.”
“How does Narendra Modi travel? You tell me first. Please ask this question to the BJP people. Which plane does Narendra Modi travel in? He travels alone. Why does he travel alone? BJP leaders will keep saying something silly,” Siddaramaiah said.
Later, the CM took to ‘X’ and slammed the BJP, claiming that the Prime Minister himself undertook 74 foreign trips.
“The hundreds of crores of money spent by the BJP who brought down the coalition government (of Congress and JD-S) through ‘Operation Lotus’, flew the MLAs around Delhi and Mumbai in a special plane, stayed in luxury hotels for weeks and had fun, were not collected by the BJP leaders as labourers in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee project, but the tax money earned by the poor people of the state,” Siddaramaiah posted.
He wondered whether the BJP leaders had any moral rights to object to his traveling in a special flight to discuss the state’s drought situation with PM Modi.
“From June 15, 2014 to September 2023 , the Prime Minister has made 74 foreign trips. According to figures from the Prime Minister’s official website, the average cost per trip is Rs 8.9 crore. The country ranks 111 on the hunger index. When the people of the country are suffering from hunger, it is said that the Prime Ministers travel abroad by special plane and have fun,” the Karnataka CM said.
Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar also defended his boss and said “CM is not using it for personal reason, he travels in a special flight to save time, we also used social flight from Belagavi due to unavailability of flight tickets, we are ready to take all party delegations.”
Several other BJP leaders also targeted Siddramaiah. Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said it was “highly improper” for the Karnataka chief minister to travel in a luxurious private aircraft from Delhi to Bengaluru when the state was reeling under severe drought condition.
BJP IT Cell incharge Amit Malviya said: “On the one hand, Congress is pretending to crowdfund and didn’t even serve samosas in I.N.D.I Alliance meeting, on the other, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Cabinet Minister for Housing, Waqf and Minority Affairs in Karnataka Govt, is flaunting his pictures with CM Siddaramaiah in a private jet.”
“They apparently had ‘happy moments’ traveling together to Delhi, to seek funds for drought relief. Irony died a million times. Karnataka is reeling under mis-governance but Congress’s loot must continue,” Malviya said on X.
(With inputs from agencies)
In the video, Siddaramaiah is seen seated in a swanky private jet along with housing minister Zameer Ahmed Khan and revenue minister Krishna Byre Gowda, among others.The video was posted by Khan with a message in Kannada: “Happy moments of traveling from Delhi to Bengaluru with our proud leader, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.”
Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra in a post of ‘X’ said: “If bigotry had a face, @INCKarnataka govt would be the Best of it! At a time, when whole of Karnataka is reeling under severe drought, farmers staring at the worst of crisis with loss of crops & no rainfall & hardly any development works taking off, all that @CMofKarnataka & his team of cabinet ministers could think of is flaunting their Rich Fortunes & Luxury Lifestyles over the poor damsels of the State!”
“By the way, they were traveling in this luxurious aircraft to seek funds for drought relief works! What a crude mockery of our distress! Splurging the Taxpayers’ money comes so easy for @INCIndia ministers!” Vijayendra said in the social media post.
When asked about Vijayendra’s tweet, Siddaramaiah targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreigh trips and the money spent on them. He also reminded the BJP about the money spent by the saffron party in “Operation Lotus.”
“How does Narendra Modi travel? You tell me first. Please ask this question to the BJP people. Which plane does Narendra Modi travel in? He travels alone. Why does he travel alone? BJP leaders will keep saying something silly,” Siddaramaiah said.
Later, the CM took to ‘X’ and slammed the BJP, claiming that the Prime Minister himself undertook 74 foreign trips.
“The hundreds of crores of money spent by the BJP who brought down the coalition government (of Congress and JD-S) through ‘Operation Lotus’, flew the MLAs around Delhi and Mumbai in a special plane, stayed in luxury hotels for weeks and had fun, were not collected by the BJP leaders as labourers in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee project, but the tax money earned by the poor people of the state,” Siddaramaiah posted.
He wondered whether the BJP leaders had any moral rights to object to his traveling in a special flight to discuss the state’s drought situation with PM Modi.
“From June 15, 2014 to September 2023 , the Prime Minister has made 74 foreign trips. According to figures from the Prime Minister’s official website, the average cost per trip is Rs 8.9 crore. The country ranks 111 on the hunger index. When the people of the country are suffering from hunger, it is said that the Prime Ministers travel abroad by special plane and have fun,” the Karnataka CM said.
Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar also defended his boss and said “CM is not using it for personal reason, he travels in a special flight to save time, we also used social flight from Belagavi due to unavailability of flight tickets, we are ready to take all party delegations.”
Several other BJP leaders also targeted Siddramaiah. Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said it was “highly improper” for the Karnataka chief minister to travel in a luxurious private aircraft from Delhi to Bengaluru when the state was reeling under severe drought condition.
BJP IT Cell incharge Amit Malviya said: “On the one hand, Congress is pretending to crowdfund and didn’t even serve samosas in I.N.D.I Alliance meeting, on the other, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Cabinet Minister for Housing, Waqf and Minority Affairs in Karnataka Govt, is flaunting his pictures with CM Siddaramaiah in a private jet.”
“They apparently had ‘happy moments’ traveling together to Delhi, to seek funds for drought relief. Irony died a million times. Karnataka is reeling under mis-governance but Congress’s loot must continue,” Malviya said on X.
(With inputs from agencies)
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