Karnataka MLA Leaves Congress Red-Faced, DK Shivakumar's Angry Retort

A Congress MLA in Karnataka has asked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to cancel some election guarantees, flagging a lack of funds, which has left the state government red-faced. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has lambasted HR Gaviyappa, the MLA from Vijayanagara, over his public statement and said the party will issue him a show-cause notice.

Speaking at a recent event, Mr Gaviyappa had said that the election guarantees had made it difficult to provide houses to people.

"It has become difficult to provide houses to people due to guarantee schemes. I request the Chief Minister to cancel 2-3 guarantee schemes that are not needed, then at least we will be able to provide houses. The decision has been left to the chief minister. We will stand by his decision," the MLA had said.

"This year, Rs 40,000 crore has been arranged from somewhere and whatever is possible is being done. The chief minister is doing the work keeping development in mind. We all should support him," he was heard saying in a video.

DK Shivakumar rejected his claim and asserted that the government will not pull back from implementing any of the guarantees.

"I am going to issue him a showcase notice. He cannot do this. There is no question of stopping any guarantee. We are committed to the people of Karnataka, we will implement it and no one can raise their voice," said the Deputy Chief Minister.

Mr Gaviyappa had earlier alleged funding discrimination against his constituency, sparking talks of an internal rift in the state Congress. His charges were met with denial by the district Congress chief Siraj Sheikh, who had labeled him as inactive and called his associates RSS workers.