Mangaluru : BJP’s Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel was only trying to gain publicity and political mileage with his opposition to the Yettinahole project said District In-charge Minister B Ramanath Rai here on Monday

Speaking to the media persons he said, that the allegations of the BJP that the Congress government has initiated the project are totally wrong. “Instead, the project was given a green signal in the Assembly during the chief ministerial tenure of B S Yeddyurappa, in the name of Nethravathi River Diversion Project. In 2009, the then Chief Minister V S Acharya had batted for the project, and his statements too are on record. But now, the BJP is targeting the Congress,” said Rai.

He also stated that he had initiated the organisation of seminars to discuss the pros and cons of the Nethravathi River Diversion Project, seven years ago.

Rai further said that if the BJP legislators pass the adjournment motion against the Yettinahole project, he would speak to the chief minister to shelve the project.

He also criticised MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and other BJP leaders for ‘staging a drama’ to show the Congress-led State government in poor light. “There is a difference of opinion among the BJP leaders regarding the Yettinahole project. When a delegation led by the BJP MP visited New Delhi, a Union minister from Karnataka said that he was completely unaware of the visit of the delegation. On the other hand legislator C T Ravi speaks in favour of the Yettinahole project,” criticised Rai.

In response to the challenge by the district in-charge minister, BJP district spokesperson K Jayaram Shetty has issued a press release saying that the statements made by two ministers of the district on the Yettinahole project and the Kumki rights of farmers showed the panic within the Congress party – especially after the party was sure of being defeated in the upcoming Panchayat polls.

It is a ridiculous situation where the ministers have been making allegations on the BJP regarding burning issues in the district, added Shetty.

“The State government itself has replied in the Assembly that it is committed to the implementation of the Yettinahole project and the ministers of the respective departments are reiterating the same. The two ministers from the district have been giving misleading statements in spite of being aware that the Governor had refused to sign the bill ensuring farmers were given Kumki land of a maximum of five acres during the tenure of the BJP government,” said the release.

Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader too has been providing wrong information and was taken to task by the Speaker in the Assembly, regarding his department, the release added.

The district BJP unit expressed a desire to remind Rai about the movement initiated by the BJP towards Land Reformation Act, Akrama Sakrama, free electricity for farmers, sites, title deeds and other fundamental facilities. After the Congress-led government took over, cases of illegal sand mining, cattle theft, shortage of electricity, irregularity in ration system, suicide of farmers and breakdown of law and order have increased, said the BJP. Shetty, through the release, has condemned the act of both ministers of giving panic reactions.