Belagavi: Janata Dal (Secular) state president H D Kumaraswamy has slammed the state government for failing to take rehabilitation measures for the tribals who were recently evacuated from the Diddalli haadi.
He spoke in the backdrop of the tribals launching a nude protest for the forced evacuation.
Kumaraswamy told reporters on Monday that holding of nude protest had never been witnessed in the state and it was only confined to the North-eastern states. But the tribal people in Kodagu forest area holding a nude protest stands as a testimony to the approach of the state government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, which claims pride of working for welfare of the Ahinda group.
The former chief minister slammed Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa and said that the senior-most minister in the state Cabinet, who had been critical of the miss governance while holding the post of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, had failed to display the commitment. In spite of holding the revenue portfolio Kagodu Thimmappa, who had assured of rehabilitating the forest dwellers, has gotten the tribals forcibly evacuated. The forest dwellers were left stranded in rain and were confronting severe cold in the absence of rehabilitative measures. “I suspect there is civility in the Congress government which is in power in the state.”
Kumaraswamy said Siddaramaiah, who calls himself the champion of Ahinda group, had not responded to the concerns of the tribes. There are four ministers from Mysuru, but, even for courtesy, none of them has visited and consoled the protesting tribes, which displays the government’s commitment towards the downtrodden and marginalised.
He also alleged that Siddaramaiah had been making efforts to hijack Keshaw Murthy, the JD(S) nominee for the by-elections of Nanjanagudu Assembly constituency. The JD(S) candidate had lost by a slender margin during the previous elections, following which the Congress was making effort to take him into the party folds.
Kumaraswamy expressed hope that Keshaw Murthy would not desert the party and would win in the elections.