Udupi: Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah said on Tuesday that the Siddaramaiah government in the State was mired in corruption and welfare measures were not reaching the people. He was speaking at the mega convention of fishermen of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts organized by the BJP at the Malpe beach, here.

Mr. Shah said that the Siddaramaiah government in the State was not just corrupt but also shameless about it. It was only in this government that ministers tainted with charges of corruption had not resigned. In fact that the tainted ministers have been given better portfolios here, he said.

“This government is wearing scams as medals on its chest. Have you heard of any Chief Minister wearing a watch priced ₹ 40 lakh? The countdown of this government will begin in April,” he said.

Mr. Shah said that the people had given a full five year term to the Congress government. But it had not done anything. Karnataka has a lot of potential. With an important centre such as Bengaluru, there should no poverty in the State at all. “Though the Centre has provided a lot of funds to the State, it has not reached the poor, it has been swindled midway,” he said.

Emphasizing on the welfare of fishermen, Mr. Shah said that the Modi government had given priority to ‘Blue Revolution.’ The Union government wanted the fishermen of the State full advantage of this ‘Blue Revolution’ under which fishermen were given various facilities and the benefit of modern technology among others to improve fish catch. The funds allocated for the welfare of the fishermen by the Modi government was significantly higher than the United Progressive Alliance (UPA-II) government.

In the Union budget presented recently, the Centre had allocated funds to provide healthcare facilities to all people under the ‘Ayushman Bharat’ scheme. Many a time poor families had to spend their entire earning to avail healthcare facilities. This scheme would provide healthcare insurance cover to all poor families.

Every poor family was being provided LPG cylinders under the Ujwala scheme. By 2022, the Centre wanted to provide housing to all poor fishermen.

B.S. Yeddyurappa, President of State unit of BJP, said that all the problems of the fishermen will be solved within three months of the BJP coming to power in the State.