Siddaramaiah and Zameer Ahmed Khan in a chartered jet
The Congress and the BJP are gunning for each other over flying in a private jet. What started as a swipe by the BJP on a video of Congress leaders' seen inside a private aircraft has escalated into a full-blown war of words, with the Congress posing the same question the BJP leaders had asked.
A video posted by Karnataka minister Zameer Ahmed Khan on social media showed him and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah boarding a private jet to fly from Bengaluru to Delhi, where they plan to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi over drought relief funds.
"Happy moments of travelling from Delhi to Bengaluru with our proud leader, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah," Mr Khan wrote in the caption.
Soon, Karnataka BJP chief BY Vijayendra led the attack on what he called the Congress leaders' "flaunting their rich fortunes and luxury lifestyle" when the state's farmers are struggling with crop loss.
"If bigotry had a face, the Karnataka government would be the best of it. At a time when Karnataka is reeling under severe drought, farmers are staring at crop loss... the Chief Minister and his cabinet ministers could think of is to flaunt their rich fortunes and luxury lifestyles..." Mr Vijayendra said in a post on X.
BJP spokesperson S Prakash told NDTV today Siddaramaiah could have easily taken a regular flight instead of splurging on a private jet. "Over 200 taluks have been declared as drought-hit. People are suffering. Under such circumstances, it is insensitive and inhuman to show this kind of luxurious chartered flight travel," Mr Prakash said.
Mr Ahmed shot back, and asked the BJP what was indeed wrong in taking a special flight.
"What's wrong in taking a special flight? The Chief Minister always comes in a special flight. We had a cabinet meeting the next day. It was urgent and no tickets were available for regular flights," the Karnataka minister said.
The Congress party too returned fire at the BJP, questioning why the BJP-led Centre - instead of taking swipes over social media videos - has not released funds for the drought-hit Karnataka areas for the past few months. The Congress said travelling in a private jet is faster, considering the urgency of the matter.
"Two days back our Chief Minister and others met the Prime Minister and the Home Minister and requested to release the grants for drought relief. But these BJP people are commenting only on the videos. For the past three months, the BJP never asked the Prime Minister or the Home Minister to release the funds to help drought-hit people," Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy told NDTV today.
Siddaramaiah, responding to the BJP's barbs, told reporters to ask what mode of travel the Prime Minister uses. "Ask the BJP people how Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels. He travels alone in a 60-seater aircraft," Siddaramaiah said.
Karnataka has sought over Rs 18,100 crore for drought relief. Small and marginal farmers are the most affected due to drought in 223 taluks out of the 236 in the southern state. The state government had given a memorandum on September 22 to the Centre seeking the drought relief funds. Subsequently, the Centre sent a team in October to check the situation, after which the team gave a report.