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Karnataka CM, ministers’ visit to Delhi in private jet sparks political row
A viral video of Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleagues travelling in a private jet sparked a political row on Friday.
Bengaluru: A viral video of Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleagues travelling in a private jet sparked a political row on Friday, after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the Congress-led government of wasting the taxpayers’ money on “luxury lifestyles” while the state grappled with a severe drought after years of insufficient rainfall.
The chief minister, however, dismissed the criticisms and questioned the flying preferences of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a 32-second video that was shared on X initially by state housing minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan on Friday, he and Siddaramaiah are seen seated in a swanky private jet along with revenue minister Krishna Byre Gowda and political secretary to the chief minister K Govindaraj. “Happy moments of travelling from Delhi to Bangalore with our proud leader, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah,” Khan wrote on the micro-blogging site.
In a communique, the Congress said the leaders were returning from New Delhi on Friday, after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday over release of funds for drought relief. The Karnataka government has declared 223 out of the total 236 taluks in the state as drought hit.
Congress leaders said that there was nothing unusual about the aircraft, and that leaders of all parties sometimes took private jets to save time. To be sure, some Indian states have their own fleet of aircraft to be used by CMs and senior officials, but Karnataka hires planes on a need basis.
As the video clip went viral on Friday, BJP leaders attacked the Congress government for the “crude mockery” of the state’s distress.
“If bigotry had a face, @INCKarnataka govt would be the Best of it! At a time, when whole of Karnataka is reeling under severe drought, farmers staring at the worst of crisis with loss of crops & no rainfall & hardly any development works taking off, all that @CMofKarnataka & his team of cabinet ministers could think of is flaunting their Rich Fortunes & Luxury Lifestyles over the poor damsels of the State!” state BJP President B Y Vijayendra wrote on X.
“By the way, they were traveling in this luxurious aircraft to seek funds for drought relief works! What a crude mockery of our distress! Splurging the Taxpayers’ money comes so easy for @INCIndia ministers!” he added.
Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal also wrote on X: “When the school children are suffering due to lack of buses and the government does not have money to repair schools, the CM is enjoying in a private jet.”
Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi questioned the need to travel in a private jet, citing ample availability of flight services between Delhi and Bengaluru. “When there are several flights between Delhi and Bengaluru, what was the need to use luxurious private jets during the drought? The state government has not given any compensation to the people, it is an insult to the people of the state. It is highly improper to travel in such a luxurious aircraft at this time,” he said.
While Khan later brought down the video amid growing criticisms, Siddaramaiah defended his government and counter-questioned the BJP.
“How does Narendra Modi travel? You tell me first. Please ask this question to the BJP people. Which plane does Narendra Modi travel in? He travels alone. Why does he travel alone? BJP leaders will keep saying something silly,” he told reporters at Mysuru airport.
Later, in a post on X, the chief minister took a swipe at the BJP over the collapse of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government in 2019.
“The hundreds of crores of money spent by the BJP who brought down the coalition government through Operation Kamala, flew the MLAs around Delhi and Mumbai in a special plane, stayed in luxury hotels for weeks and had fun, were not collected by the BJP as laborers in the Nrega project, but the tax money earned by the poor people of the state,” he said.
“Do state @BJP4Karnataka leaders have the morals to object to my traveling in a special flight to discuss the state’s drought situation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi?” he added.
State transport minister Ramalinga Reddy also defended the government, and accused the BJP of diverting attention from the issue of requirement of funds to tackle the drought.
“My question is 223 taluks have been declared drought-hit. Several of our ministers went to Delhi in the last two months but they did not get an appointment. Instead of helping the state to get the funds, BJP leaders are speaking about Zameer Ahmed’s video. The BJP leaders are least bothered about the farmers,” Reddy said.
While the state government has, several times in the past, accused the central government of not releasing funds for centrally-sponsored schemes and drought relief, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on November 30 said there is “nothing pending” from the Centre to Karnataka and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for the drought relief will be decided once a high-power committee (of NDRF) assesses the situation.
“The moment the committee recommends, the money is going to come. It is due to the state. Nobody’s going to stop it,” she said.
