BJP has abandoned its responsibilities as Oppn in Karnataka: Priyank Kharge

Speaking to reporters, Congress's Priyank Kharge took a dig at the BJP for remaining silent on matters that fall under the purview of the central government

Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday hit out at the BJP ahead of the Assembly session here, alleging that the party has abandoned its responsibilities as an opposition and was instead focusing only on trivial issues.

Speaking to reporters on the premises of Suvarana Vidhana Soudha here, Kharge took a dig at the BJP for remaining silent on matters that fall under the purview of the central government.

Responding to a question that the BJP was going to target the Congress government in the session, Kharge said, "Let them do it. They have abandoned their responsibilities as an opposition."  "The MSP (Minimum Support Price) for maize was supposed to be given by the Central government. They are not asking about that. Similary, the FRP (Fair and Remunerative Price) for sugarcane is decided by the Centre," he said.

Kharge further claimed that the Centre owed Karnataka significant dues, but instead the BJP was raising irrelevant issues.

"They owe the state government Rs 13,000 crore in Jal Jeevan Mission. They (BJP) are not going to talk about that. They owe the 15th finance commission allocation for MGNREGA which is yet to come. They are only going to talk about the watches worn by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Sivakumar. That is the intellectual capacity of the opposition in Karnataka," he said.

Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar reportedly wore similar Cartier watches when the former visited the latter's residence for breakfast on December 2 in Bengaluru, and the opposition BJP has been critical of the expensive watches and has raised questions about it.