Bengaluru, 30 Jan

A day after the Karnataka State Contractors Association threatened a Statewide protests if the pending dues of Rs 38,000 crore were not cleared by the State Government, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the BJP left the unpaid debts.

“The pending bills were left behind by the BJP. There are indeed pending bills, but it was the BJP that left them,” Siddaramiah said.

“Of Rs 38,000 crore, Rs 20,000 crore comes from the BJP government, while the rest comes from our government... A crore of bills in their reign itself. Now it has accumulated too much... We have to look after all those things,” echoed Minister Ramalinga Reddy.

However, the BJP did not let the ruling party off the hook.

BJP leader CN Ashwath Narayan noted that the “40 per cent corruption” charge by the Congress during the saffron party’s tenure had become a major election campaign, but it was silent now. The Congress raised the slogan based on an allegation made by the Contractors Association.

On Thursday, the Association’s president, Manjunath, said that they would stop work in February and launch Statewide protests on 5 March if the dues were not cleared.

 Of Rs 38,000 crore, Rs 20,000 crore comes from the BJP government, while the rest comes from our government