Deve Gowda defends son over budget; hits out at Congress leaders

Deve Gowda

JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda today hit out at Congress leaders for levelling regional bias charge against his son and chief minister H D Kumaraswamy over the budget and said he would ask him to table a white paper in the assembly on allocations made to different regions since 1956.

"From 1956 till today how much money spent whether it is for irrigation, roads, power...how much was spent on different regions, let there be a discussion in the Vidhana Sabha for two or three days with statistics, and let a white paper be brought out... at least then there be enlightenment," he said.

Talking to reporters in Hubballi, the former prime minister referred to criticism by some Congress MLAs, including senior leader H K Patil, about the budget presented by Kumaraswamy on July 5 over alleged discrimination of north Karnataka. "How much money was allocated to Gadag when he (Patil) was minister? How much was given to drinking water and other schemes for Gadag alone?" he asked seeking to turn the tables.

Kumaraswamy, also the finance minister, had come under criticism from within the JDS-Congress coalition with a few senior Congress MLAs, including former minister Patil, striking a discordant and writing to him demanding programmes for the minority community and also to the northern region. Patil had also made his displeasure clear during the debate on the budget in the assembly.

Gowda sought to know as to how much former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had allocated for the northern region in his last vote on account budget he presented before the assembly polls. He also pointed to comments made against Kumaraswamy that farm loan waiver favoured the Vokkaliga community and the southern parts of the state, the community and region where JD(S) has its dominance. ...I will ask my son to discuss and place it (records) in the assembly about how much work has happened in whose tenure, let the eyes at least open then, he said.