The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday came down heavily on the Congress government in Karnataka for flaunting their 'rich fortunes and luxury lifestyles' following a viral video on social media showing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleague B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan in a private jet.
The CM hit back by questioning the flying preferences of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the viral video, Siddaramaiah is seen seated in a swanky private jet along with Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan and Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, among others.
In a post, Minister Khan is seen walking inside the jet with a popular bollywood song playing in the background.
Karnataka BJP President B Y Vijayendra in a post of 'X' said: 'If bigotry had a face, @INCKarnataka govt would be the Best of it! At a time, when whole of Karnataka is reeling under severe drought, farmers staring at the worst of crisis with loss of crops & no rainfall & hardly any development works taking off, all that @CMofKarnataka & his team of cabinet ministers could think of is flaunting their Rich Fortunes & Luxury Lifestyles over the poor damsels of the State!'
'By the way, they were traveling in this luxurious aircraft to seek funds for drought relief works! What a crude mockery of our distress! Splurging the Taxpayers' money comes so easy for @INCIndia ministers!' Vijayendra said in the social media post.
Asked about Vijayendra's tweet on the chief minister travelling in a luxury jet, Siddaramaiah counter-questioned, "How does Narendra Modi travel? You tell me first. Please ask this question to the BJP people. Which plane does Narendra Modi travel in? He travels alone. Why does he travel alone? BJP leaders will keep saying something silly."
Later, the CM took to X and slammed the BJP, claiming that the prime minister himself undertook 74 foreign trips.
'The hundreds of crores of money spent by the BJP who brought down the coalition government (of Congress and JD-S) through 'Operation Lotus', flew the MLAs around Delhi and Mumbai in a special plane, stayed in luxury hotels for weeks and had fun, were not collected by the BJP leaders as labourers in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee project, but the tax money earned by the poor people of the state.'
He wondered whether the BJP leaders had any moral rights to object to his traveling in a special flight to discuss the state's drought situation with PM Modi.
'From June 15, 2014 to September 2023 , the Prime Minister has made 74 foreign trips. According to figures from the Prime Minister's official website, the average cost per trip is Rs 8.9 crore. The country ranks 111 on the hunger index. When the people of the country are suffering from hunger, it is said that the prime minister's travel abroad by special plane and have fun,' Siddaramaiah shot back.
