Yeddyurappa asks Centre to ‘bail out’ recession hit states

Karnataka CM B S Yeddyurappa has asked the UPA government to work out a stimulus package for states.

Karanataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has asked the UPA government to work out a stimulus package for states to tide over the economic crisis caused by global downturn and sought other states’ support for his demand.

“As the Centre announced two stimulus packages to insulate the economy from economic recession,there is an urgent need to come with a similar package to bail out the state governments out of this crisis”,he said in an interview on the occasion of his government completing its first year in office.

The Finance department officials have been working out details of the impact caused by the global meltdown and the extent of financial losses to quantify the aid the state should seek from the Centre,he said.

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Yeddyurappa,looking relaxed after his party’s good performance in Lok Sabha polls in the state with 19 of the 28 seats in the state,wanted all Chief Ministers to join him in demanding a financial package to states.

“All Chief Ministers,be it ruled by Congress,BJP and allies of UPA,they should come together to put forth this demand before the Centre,” he said.

“I expect the Centre to come to my state’s help”,said Yeddyurappa,who has been repeatedly accusing the UPA government of giving Karnataka a raw deal earlier on the ground that it was ruled by BJP.

Exuding optimism that the UPA government,which has returned to power for the second successive term,”will not continue the step-motherly treatment” to Karnataka,Yeddyurappa said,”This time,I hope they would cooperate”.

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Yeddyurappa said he would hold a meeting with MPs from the state and detail them about the pending issues of Karnataka.

“We have a strong contingent of 19 MPs in Lok Sabha. If they all stand up,the government cannot ignore our rightful demands,” he said.

Reeling out statistics to back his allegations on the injustice meted out to Karnataka by the Centre in the last five years in various sectors,the chief minister said while the state got 17 per cent allocation from the Central Grid out of the total power allocated,Andhra Pradesh,where the Congress was in power,obtained 32 per cent and Tamil Nadu,in which UPA ally DMK ruled,secured 34 per cent power.

Despite Karnataka facing acute power shortage,its pleas for more allocation from unallocated share fell on deaf ears,he alleged.

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The situation was similar in allocating grants to major irrigation projects,Yeddyurappa said pointing out that as against a massive grant of Rs 1,095 crore received by Andhra Pradesh and Rs 1,170 crore by Maharashtra,Karnataka got “only” Rs 323 crore.

Advani is our leader,asserts Yeddyurappa

Declining to be drawn into a discussion over leadership issue in BJP following the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha polls,Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa asserted on Saturday that L K Advani “is and will continue to be our leader”.

Yeddyurappa,who played a key role in his party realising its dreams of installing a BJP government in the South,evaded a question on whether projection of his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate after Advani by certain party leaders mid-way through the Lok Sabha polls,cost it dearly in the elections.

Yeddyurappa added that,”people must have thought that BJP cannot give stable government and voted for UPA,that’s all nothing more”. “Advani is our leader”,he said.