BJP's allegation politically motivated and baseless: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

Mysore (Karnataka) [India], October 16 (ANI): The Karnataka Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, while speaking to media in Mysore, said on Monday that BJP's allegation of corruption by the Congress is politically motivated and baseless and people will not believe BJP no matter what protest they do.
Reacting to the BJP's allegation that the Congress government is extracting money after money was found in a contractor's house, the CM said that the Income Tax Department has done its job. It is not right to connect it politically, just because money was found in someone's house.
He further said that people will not trust the BJP no matter what protests they undertake.
"BJP is protesting with a political purpose and with Lok Sabha elections in mind and there is no need for any investigation by the state government in this case," said Siddaramaiah.
"They (BJP) are making baseless accusations against Congress because of the elections in five states and there is no connection between holding elections in other states and our State," he said.
Responding to BJP leader CT Ravi's allegation that Congress leaders are given a target to collect money, the Karnataka CM said "Ravi's statements are always full of lies and there is no need to respond to his false statements. All such allegations are false and baseless."
Further reacting to the question of inadequate supply of electricity to rural areas, the Chief Minister said there was a shortfall in power generation.
"Apart from power generation during our previous government, not a single megawatt of electricity was generated during the subsequent BJP or JDS government. Due to the lack of rain, the power supply to pump sets has been disrupted. On average, 10,000 MW of electricity was consumed till the month of October. But this time 6,000 MW. was consumed. There is a shortfall of about 2,000 MW of power. Hence there is a power problem" the CM explained.
Siddaramaiah further said that after holding a meeting regarding this, it has been instructed to provide uninterrupted electricity for 5 hours in three phases to farmers and instructions have also been given to purchase power from outside.
The Karnataka CM also responded to the question of fodder shortage for livestock and said that there is currently no fodder shortage, however, instructions have been given to take steps to grow fodder and store it.
"Out of 236 taluks, 216 taluks are drought-affected. In fact, there is crop damage in 42 thousand hectares and a loss of 30,000 crores" he added.
Siddaramaiah also said that it had been directed to ensure that there will be no problem in providing work to people, drinking water and fodder to the livestock, said Siddaramaiah. (ANI)