File photo of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Housing and Minority Affairs Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan. A video of the duo travelling a private jet has stoked controversy in the State.
| Photo Credit: Murali Kumar K
The opposition BJP came down heavily on the Congress government in Karnataka for ‘flaunting rich fortune and luxury lifestyles’ after a video went viral showing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleague B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan in a private jet.
Mr. Siddaramaiah too retaliated, saying which plane Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels in and why does he go alone.
In the video, Mr. Siddaramaiah is seen along with Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan and Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, among others. Minister Khan is seen walking inside the jet plane with a background song ‘Look, look, see, the Sultan is moving, see, see, see, the Sultan is proud.’. There is a small logo with Mr. Khan’s picture in it.
Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra in a post of ‘X’, formerly Twitter, said: “If bigotry had a face, @INCKarnataka govt would be the Best of it! At a time, when whole of Karnataka is reeling under severe drought, farmers staring at the worst of crisis with loss of crops & no rainfall & hardly any development works taking off, all that @CMofKarnataka & his team of cabinet ministers could think of is flaunting their Rich Fortunes & Luxury Lifestyles over the poor damsels of the State!”.
“By the way, they were traveling in this luxurious aircraft to seek funds for drought relief works! What a crude mockery of our distress! Splurging the Tax payers money comes so easy for @INCIndia ministers!” Mr. Vijayendra said in the social media post.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi too said it was “highly improper” for Mr. Siddaramaiah to travel in a luxurious private aircraft from Delhi to Bengaluru when the State was reeling under severe drought condition.
When asked about Mr. Vijayendra’s post, Mr. Siddaramaiah counter-questioned, “How does Narendra Modi travel? You tell me first. Please ask this question to the BJP people – which plane does Narendra Modi travels in? He travels alone. Why does he travel alone? BJP leaders will keep saying something silly.”