Cong's Mekedatu padayatra politically motivated: Bommai

Bengaluru, Jan 9 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said the Congress has undertaken the "politically motivated" Mekedatu padayatra to fool the people.

".... But you can't fool the people again and again," he said while interacting with the media persons.

The previous Congress government failed to submit a proper detailed project report (DPR) during its 5-year-term, Bommai said.

"The Congress party has no commitment. DK Shivakumar himself was the Water Resources minister in the previous coalition government and then too, no concrete action was taken in this regard. The party had not bothered to raise its voice for the project in the last 3 years," he said.

Further hitting out the Congress party, the Chief Minister said: "Now, as the assembly elections are approaching, they have taken out the Padayatra with a political motivation. The sense of guilt is haunting them as they had not done anything for implementing the project during their reign in power. So they are out to fool the people. This is a political Padayatra."

"The Congress has not worked with commitment for any irrigation project. They had vowed to provide Rs 10,000 crore for Upper Krishna Project during their Krishna padayatra. But in their 5 year term they failed to release even Rs 7,000 crore," Bommai said.

He said the BJP has proved its commitment for the Mekedatu project. "After I became the Chief Minister, the DPR has been sent for approval by the Central Water Commission and Cauvery Monitoring Board. A meeting over the project would be held this month and suitable decisions are expected. The state government has geared up on the legal front too before the Supreme Court," Bommai said.

In the past, the National Green Tribunal had taken a serious view on just a visit of some farmers' outfits to the project site and had issued a stay order for the project. Now Congress has launched a programme on a large scale and the Congress leadership is aware of the consequences. But still politicking remains to be their priority, Bommai said.

Congress would not have launched the Padayatra if the leaders were sensible about the legal issues of inter-state water dispute, Cauvery Tribunal award and court orders involved in the Mekedatu project. But Congress leaders are interested only in politics. People will take the call on this issue, Bommai said.

Congress could not prepare even a DPR when it was in power. "As a saying goes 'digging a mountain to catch mice', all they did was to prepare a feasibility report of the project," the Chief Minister said.

A notice has been served for Congress party against taking out the Padayatra violating Covid norms. Action in accordance with law would be taken against any violation, he said.