Siddaramaiah running govt like 'Tughlaq darbar' ahead of polls: Yeddyurappa

New Delhi, Mar 8: BJP president Yeddyurappa lashed out at the Siddaramaiah government over deteriorating law and order in Karnataka and said the chief minister was running the state like 'Tughlaq darbar" ahead of the state assembly polls.

His remarks come a day after the state's most senior anti-corruption officer P Vishwanatha Shetty was hospitalised after he was stabbed repeatedly at his office in Bengaluru. "By God's grace, he (Shetty) is still alive. I dont know how Siddaramaiah reacts to such incidents. When there is no safety for high-rank officers, will there be for ordinary people? The law and order has completely collapsed," Yeddyurappa told reporters. He said the chief minister claimed that his government was number one. But it seems the government is number one is in terms of atrocities on women and breakdown of law and order in the state, the BJP leader said.

"It seems Siddaramaiah is running the government like a Tughlaq darbar. We have to bear it for two months," he said. Yeddyurappa, BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Karnataka assembly polls, exuded confidence that his party would win more than 150 seats and form the government. He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to visit Raichur on March 13 for the inauguration of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT).

Yeddyurappa was in the national capital to meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to request for inclusion of Talavara and Parivara tribal communities in the list of the Scheduled Tribes (STs). He also met Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda on the arecanut issue.

"On April 19, 1991, the Centre had incuded Nayak, Weda and Valmiki communities in the ST list but not Parivara and Talavara tribes. We met the home minister and asked him to include these two communities in the ST list," he said.

The home minister has assured that the issue will be resolved at the earliest, he added. On the areca nut issue, the state BJP chief said the central government has been asked to clear concerns over quality of areca nut and protect the interest of farmers.

"Areca nut (supari) is being grown and consumed for ages. Some concerns were raised by Congress on its quality in Lok Sabha and that has affected farmers. There is no such content in areca nut which is harmful to health," he added. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar among other party members were part of the two meetings.

PTI