In a scathing attack on Karnataka Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda and his ministers, former Karnataka Minister B Sreeramulu on Saturday said they had failed to solve the problems of the people reeling under severe drought.
Sreeramulu, an independent MLA and close associate of jailed former minister and mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy, alleged that Gowda did not visit drought-hit areas and most of the time was in Bangalore with his ministers trying to save the government from collapsing.
"They don't have time for alleviating problems of people including farmers", he said, officially launching his new party Badavara Shramikara Raitara (BSR) Congress at the culmination of his 921-km padyatra from Bidar to Bangalore to highlight the drought in the state.
Sreeramulu wanted Gowda to immediately release Rs 5000 crore to alleviate hardships faced by farmers reeling under drought.
Making a pitch for regional parties, he claimed "national parties like Congress and BJP will be out of favour in future in Karnataka as they don't have a nose for local issues."
"Regional parties are popular as they understand local issues and quickly solve them", Sreeramulu said and cited as example the victory achieved by the YSR Congress headed by Jaganmohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh in the bye-elections.
Addressing a rally after the culmination of his padyatra, he also said there was a need "for teaching national parties a lesson as they back stab local leaders after making full use of them".
Charging the BJP government with "backstabbing" former minister Janardhan Reddy, who has been jailed in connection with an illegal mining case, he claimed the Reddy brothers from Bellary district had helped it form the first government in South India.
He also attacked the Congress, accusing it of conspiring to remove him from his ministerial post.
Sreeramulu said he would take out another padyatra to highlight the government's 'failure' to tackle people's problems in the state's coastal belt.