BJP politicising backwardness of HK Region: Dharam

Gulbarga, Sep 18 (UNI) Former Karnataka Chief Minister and senior Congress leader N Dharam Singh today said Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa was attempting to extract political mileage in the backwardness of Hyderabad-Karnataka region by apportioning blame on the Congress leaders, instead of BJP evolving a strategy for its development.

Talking to newspersons here, he said during his tenure as Chief Minister, he led an all-party delegation to the Centre to urge the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to amend Article 371 to give special status to the region on the lines of Vidharba.

Mr Singh alleged that Mr Yeddyurappa has failed in tackling flood situation and pointed that the Chief Minister did not even visit the Bidar District which was affected by floods recently. ''The Chief Minister had prioritised funds in those areas where by-elections for the Assembly were due, following opposition MLAs joining BJP,'' he added.

Referring to Mr Yeddyurappa's critisism that the Congress leaders did not attend the Liberation Day function yesterday, Mr Singh clarified that they were not invited properly for the programme.

The programme was held, as if it was a BJP show, he alleged.

Mr Singh said he was not against appointment of Mr Siddaramaiah as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee(KPCC) President. ''I only urged the Party High Command to pick-up a deserving candidate for the post,'' he added.

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