Hubballi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed title deeds to nomadic Lambani (Banjara) tribes in Kalaburagi district, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah charged the ruling BJP in Karnataka with "feasting on the meals" prepared by the previous Congress government headed by him.
The senior Congress leader claimed that the BJP was trying to project that they were granting revenue village status to Thandas' (this community's habitations), which was "misleading". According to Bommai government, the move to distribute these deeds ('Hakku Patra') would benefit 52,072 nomads in five districts of north Karnataka, providing them a "permanent roof".
The fact, according to Siddaramaiah, was that the process to make Thandas as revenue villages was initiated during his government from 2013 to 2018. The then revenue minister Kagodu Thimmappa in my government brought amendment to the Forest Act and the Land Revenue Act with a slogan Those who till the land should own it'. Those were historic amendments, the leader of opposition in the Karnataka assembly, told reporters.
The Congress government had constituted a committee to submit a report on how to make these Thandas' as revenue villages and an IAS officer was made the nodal officer to implement it, Siddaramaiah said reacting to the launch of 'Hakku Patra' distribution drive. The Congress could not give the Hakku Patras' to the beneficiaries as it lost power later, he recalled.
The BJP without doing anything in the last four years has suddenly started claiming that they did everything. The BJP is feasting on the meals prepared by us because of impending elections, he alleged. He also accused the BJP of painting a "wrong picture" to the PM by projecting that they were giving land rights to the Lambanis. (PTI)
