Daijiworld Media Network- Mangaluru (VP)
Mangaluru, Apr 13: Former minister Ramanath Rai has criticised the BJP government at the Centre saying that most of the development happened in Dakshina Kannada due to Jawaharlal Nehru and various other Congress leaders elected from the district.
Addressing news persons on Saturday, April 13, at the Congress office here said, "Many Congress stalwarts like Shankar Ramrao, K K Shettar, Janardhana Poojary, T A Pai, Oscar Fernandes, Vinay Kumar, Srinivas Mallya have contributed a lot in developing the district. Srinivas Mallya was in parliament during Jawaharlal Nehru's reign and later Congress leaders brought projects such as the airport, port, MRPL, ONGC to the district. A lot of developmental works have been done under Congress government and we believe that Padmaraj R Poojary has the ability to fill this gap."
He further said, "Janardhana Poojary was a normal banker and he had helped a number of families. Oscar Fernandes became a minister thrice and during his tenure prominent roads were laid. He brought the Kudremukh, MRPL, ONGC and also established NITK for engineering students. During the last 10 years of BJP rule what they did was hand over the airport to Adani besides merging some banks. Today the prime minister has no problem paying floral tribute to Narayan Guru but he couldn't say yes for a tableau in the past."
"Congress leaders have helped Dakshina Kannada to develop whereas the BJP party is busy in acquiring more votes and the Congress party had stopped the monopoly of lands by introducing Land Reforms Act which had benefitted the people of Dakshina Kannada. We have given scholarships and financial help to the handicapped and the poor. Housing facility were given under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana during the Congress tenure," he said.
"The BJP government was unsuccessful in waiving off loans and providing for financial aid to farmers but they have successfully done it for big corporate conglomerates. Today, due to levy of the GST, the Karnataka government has contributed a lot of money to the Central pool. When the state is facing drought there is no support from the Centre," Rai said.
On this occasion, Harish Kumar, Ibrahim Kodijal, Shalet Pinto, Naveen Dsouza, D K Ashok, Sashidhar Hegde, Harinath Jogi and others were present.