BENGALURU: As Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar continued their breakfast meetings to send a message of unity, it came under fire from the Opposition BJP and Janata Dal (Secular), which termed it a “smoke-screen to mislead the people.”
The BJP leaders even slammed Siddaramaiah for having chicken curry at Shivakumar’s residence on Hanuma Jayanti Day.
“The so-called truce over breakfast is deceptive. Gap between CM-DCM is too wide for a small chicken to bridge,” said former minister and BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar. The BJP leader said that given the kind of animosity and acrimony that exists between the two, this breakfast truce is too fragile and may give in at any time.
He said, notwithstanding “deceptive peace between the two warring ruling party leaders”, the BJP will go hammer and tongs against the Congress government during the forthcoming winter session to highlight the government’s failure on all fronts.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka said the Congress government has not resolved farmers’ problems, potholes on Bengaluru roads have not been filled, but Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar are busy with breakfast meetings to resolve issues between them.
Ashoka said while Hanuma Jayanti celebrations were taking place everywhere with joy, Siddaramaiah savored ‘nati koli saaru’ (country chicken curry) at Shivakumar’s residence, which had hurt the sentiments of devotees of Lord Hanuman.
If the time spent eating snacks had been used to fill potholes, many innocent lives could have been saved, he said, and added that the issue of sugarcane farmers has not been solved, maize procurement has not started, but no breakfast meetings were held to discuss those issues.
Former CM and BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai said the breakfast meeting between the CM and DyCM is just a teaser and the real movie is yet to come. Speaking to a private news agency in New Delhi on Tuesday, Bommai said that in a few days, the real situation within the Congress will be exposed.
BJP’s alliance partner JDS asked the CM and DyCM to stop the food tours and focus on governance. “In Karnataka, only one active ministry is the ‘Ministry of Breakfast’, while the rest remain on a permanent fast,” the JDS said.
