In a scathing attack on Karnataka chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda and his ministers, former Karnataka minister B. Sreeramulu on Sunday said they had failed to solve the problems of people reeling under severe drought.
Mr Sreeramulu, an Independent MLA and close associate of jailed former minister and mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy, alleged that Mr Gowda did not visit drought-hit areas and most of the time was in Bengaluru with his ministers trying to save the government from collapsing.
“They don’t have time for alleviating problems of people, including farmers,” he said, officially launching his new party, the Badavara Shramikara Raitara (BSR) Congress, at the culmination of his 921-km padyatra from Bidar to Bengaluru to highlight the drought in the state.
Mr Sreeramulu wanted Mr Gowda to immediately release `5,000 crore to alleviate hardships faced by farmers reeling under drought.
Making a pitch for regional parties, he claimed “national parties like Congress and BJP will be out of favour in future in Karnataka as they don’t have nose for local issues.”
“Regional parties are popular as they understand local issues and quickly solve them,” Mr Sreeramulu said and cited as example the victory achieved by the YSR Congress headed by Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh in the byelections. Addressing a rally after the culmination of his padyatra, he said there was a need “for teaching national parties a lesson”.