Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 11 : After the president of the Karnataka State Contractors Association alleged growing interference by middlemen in government departments, BJP leader and LoP R Ashoka said that it is 200 per cent correct and there is no doubt at all.
Aiming at the Karnataka government, the BJP leader further alleged that the chambers of ministers have become "collection centres " as they no longer remain work or development centres.
"... Its 200 per cent correct. There is no doubt at all. In Vidhana Soudha, the chambers of all the ministers are the collection centres, not the work centre or development centre," R Ashoka told reporters.
Sharpening his attacks, the LoP alleged that ministers "collected money" and send it to the high command to retain their posts.
He said, "They collect the money and send it to the high command because that their post must be retained. Ministers were retained, the deputy CM was retained, and the congress president was retained. There is no development in Karnataka. They are looting the government's money. Congress leaders are also saying this..."
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi also fiercely critiqued the Congress-led Karnataka government, accusing it of indulging in corruption.
Joshi told reporters, "They are doing deals. Their economic advisor has said that there is highest corruption in the Karnataka government. We haven't said this, they said it. So there is corruption. Congress always support corruption. It is their patent.
Earlier on Thursday, Karnataka State Contractors Association President R. Manjunath wrote a letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleging that payments to contractors by the state government are not being made based on seniority.
In the letter, he mentioned that the interference of middlemen between contractors and government departments has increased significantly.
He stated that the government is supposed to release payments based on seniority as per the transparency law, but it is not doing so. "There are a total of 1.5 lakh contractors in the state, out of which 60% are small and medium-level contractors. These contractors are not receiving payments. Only influential contractors are being paid, and Manjunath questions, "How are the rest supposed to survive?," the letter reads.
In the letter to CM Siddaramaiah, he also alleges that middlemen are heavily involved in the release of funds in the Public Works Department, the four irrigation corporations, and the minor irrigation department. As a result, funds are not being released based on seniority in these departments.