Karnataka

Bengaluru flooding prompts political slugfest between BJP, Congress

The political blame game began after Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that Bengaluru has flooded because of the previous Congress government.

Written by : TNM Staff

Constant rains have battered the city of Bengaluru, causing floods in many areas. The water has entered homes, damaged hundreds of vehicles and even claimed a 23-year-old woman’s life. The situation now has led to a fresh political slugfest with various political parties attacking each other over their incompetence, blaming them for the current situation Bengaluru is in. The row began with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, on September 6, blaming the previous Congress government for approving multiple constructions on several lakes and rajakaluves without taking in consideration its long term effects. He said the Congress did not think of maintaining the lakes and reiterated that the cause for the present situation was the Congress party. 

The BJP has held power in Karnataka since 2019. Under Siddaramaiah, Congress led the state government from 2013 to 2018. The state had three BJP Chief Ministers between 2008 and 2013. The control of the existing MLAs has extended to the civic organisation Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, which now has no corporators because elections have not been held. Yet  the BJP also had a majority of council members in 2015 BBMP elections, but the Mayor was from the JD(S)-Congress because of their alliance.

The comment by the Chief Minister opened floodgates, as senior Congress leaders hit back. Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar took to Twitter asking, “Has the BJP government, which boasted of making Bengaluru a world-class city with modern amenities, forgotten that now? Who built poor infrastructure in a world-class city? Do you have the answer?”

Soon enough, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah followed suit and tweeted saying, “Mr. @CMofKarnataka @BSBommai, #NammaBengaluru is now drowning due to your failure. It is time to remind you of the promise to make Bengaluru a world class city with modern infrastructure! With IT Capital submerged, what is your solution?”

Another Congress leader Lavanya Ballal shared a video of BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Twitter where he can be seen eating a dosa, alleging that he was ‘enjoying a dosa while Bengaluru floods’. She alleged that the clip was from September 5, but TNM has not been able to independently verify the claim. Lavanya questioned Tejasvi if he has visited any flood-affected areas in Bengaluru yet. Tejasvi Surya, who is a Member of Parliament from Bangalore South, has not responded.

Meanwhile, Telangana minister and working president of Telangana Rashtra Samiti, KT Rama Rao, took the graceful route and defended Bengaluru by tweeting, “With rapid urbanisation & sub-urbanisation, infrastructure is bound to crumble as we haven’t infused enough capital into upgrading the same. No Indian city is immune to disastrous consequences of climate change”.

He added that he is well aware that his tweet will not be liked by some ‘friends in Hyderabad’ because they were taunted by some Bengaluru leaders when Hyderabad was in a similar situation. “But if we have to grow as a nation, we need to learn from each others’ experiences & show the might of collective will,” he tweeted.

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