UPA governemnt not cooperating with Karnataka: Yeddyurappa

BANGALORE: BJP ruled Karnataka has accused the Centre of "neglect and step motherly treatment" on all issues as Congress has turned panicky in the wake of the southern state slipping out of its fold.

At the same time the B S Yeddyurappa led government has offered an olive branch to its neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and said it was ready to discuss outstanding inter-state disputes if the Centre took the lead.

"It is all out of frustration as they are panicky because they are loosing ground in a state which stood by them even during emergency days when the Congress had lost elsewhere across the country," Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said.

Expressing displeasure on the non-cooperation from the Centre when the state approached it for supply of fertilizers to farmers during this Kharif sowing season and for immediate financial assistance for relief to flood and drought affected people, Yeddyurappa said "neglect and step motherly treatment is being meted out to my state".

"There is not even a single instance in which the Centre cooperated with Karnataka," said Yeddyurappa, whose government completed 100 days in office on September 9.

The chief minister says he has already asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take the lead to convene a meeting of concerned chief ministers to resolve inter-state issues.

Commenting on the non-cooperation of opposition Congress and JDS in the state, Yeddyurappa asked them to "join hands in development".

"From the day my government came to power, the opposition parties have been making attempts to destabilise it," he alleged.

Yeddyurappa, whose leadership helped the BJP come to power for the first time in the South, however shrugs off queries as to what advice he wanted to give for spreading the party's reach in the South.

"I am a humble worker. It is for the leadership to decide what has to be done. My job is limited to Karnataka and whatever directions the party leadership gives, I will follow," Yeddyurappa said.

The chief minister also sidesteps queries on whether Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi was his role model. "Our role model is Atal Behari Vajpayee," is his refrain. At the same time he is all praises for the development work done by Modi.

Yeddyurappa said he would change the face of Karnataka and particularly Bangalore city in the next five years and "if I fail to do so, I will quit politics".


Source : Times Of India