Bengaluru, February 19 – The Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a sharp attack on the Congress government on Thursday over the ongoing protests by Transport Department staff and the garbage management crisis in Bengaluru, alleging financial mismanagement and administrative failure.
Speaking to the media in Bengaluru, R. Ashoka, the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, referring to the agitation by state-run transport corporation employees, said that no department had been adequately funded since the Congress government assumed office.
He alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy had indefinitely postponed fulfilling the demands of transport employees.
"The government treasury is empty. RTC staffers are resorting to strike demanding the release of pending arrears for 38 months. Their legitimate demands should have been fulfilled by now. This delay is a failure on the part of the government," he said.
Ashoka stated that if the government had funds, it should have cleared the dues either in phases or in one installment.
He accused the government of acting only after employees announced protests, claiming that authorities were now preparing to release 26 months of arrears instead of the full 38 months demanded. He said transport staff had rejected the proposal.
Responding to Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy’s allegation that the previous BJP government had left pending dues, Ashoka challenged him to disclose details of liabilities inherited in 2018. He also referred to his own tenure as Transport Minister between 2009 and 2013, stating that if any dues were left during his term, the government should make that public.
He further alleged that the present government had turned a profit-making transport institution into a loss-making one.
Ashoka acknowledged that transport corporations across the world incurred losses during the Covid-19 pandemic due to travel restrictions but said using that period as an excuse by the Congress government now was unjustified.
Calling the government’s explanations "lame excuses", Ashoka claimed that the crisis was not limited to one department.
He said the Contractors' Association was preparing for a strike over pending payments and that excise contractors were also planning protests.
"The government will pay the price for the mistakes committed over the last three years," he warned, demanding immediate fulfillment of RTC employees' demands.
Ashoka also responded to Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s warning that garbage could be dumped in front of BJP leaders’ residences if they attempted to block garbage trucks. "Let them dump garbage at our residences, no problem. If they are unable to manage garbage, it is their failure," he said.
He maintained that it was not BJP leaders but local residents who were protesting against garbage dumping. According to him, the government had promised better civic facilities but failed to deliver over the past two-and-a-half years. He claimed that during the previous BJP government, hundreds of crores of rupees had been released for waste management.
Employees of the state's four transport corporations are staging a ‘Bengaluru Chalo’ protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru.
The Joint Action Committee is scheduled to hold a press conference at 4 pm today to announce its next course of action.