Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday courted controversy for flying in a private jet to Delhi to seek drought relief funds from the Centre, with the BJP calling out the "irony".
A video posted by Karnataka Minister Zameer Ahmad Khan showed the chief minister and Khan himself in the jet. He captioned it: "Happy moments of travelling from Delhi to Bangalore with our proud leader, Chief Minister Siddaramiah."
The video was slammed by BJP leader Amit Malviya, who took potshots at the Chief Minister for the "happy moments" in a private jet. Posting the video on X, Malviya wrote, "On the one hand, Congress is pretending to crowdfund and didn't even serve samosas in I.N.D.I Alliance meeting, on the other, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Cabinet Minister for Housing, Waqf and Minority Affairs in Karnataka Govt, is flaunting his pictures with CM Siddaramaiah in a private jet. They apparently had 'happy moments' travelling together to Delhi, to seek funds for drought relief. Irony died a million times."
"Karnataka is reeling under misgovernance but Congress's loot must continue," Malviya added.
Karnataka BJP leader CT Ravi also hit out at the CM, stating that the state claims to not have funds to pay our farmers affected by drought but it has all the funds to fly the chief minister. "Karnataka government does not have funds to pay our Farmers affected by drought. Neither does it have funds for development or to fulfil its guarantees. And that too to seek funds for drought relief from the central government. CM Siddaramaiah boasts that he is a 'Samaajavaadi'. But Kannadigas can only see a 'Majaavaadi' here !" the BJP leader wrote.
BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla too hit out at the chief minister, stating the ruling Congress was using the state as an ATM. "The deputy chief minister of Karnataka tells his MLAs and people that there is no money left for development because all the money has been splurged on the so-called promises made by the Congress party which they are unable to fulfil. We see the ministers of the Karnataka government doing photo shoots and splurging in VVIP planes and jet planes at the cost of taxpayer money along with the chief minister to ask for funds for drought relief. Congress's mindset is to use any state it gets power in as an ATM. They did that in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Now it has turned to Karnataka and Telangana," he added.
