State Congress leaders on Thursday hit out against Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa for denying permission to Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah to hold meetings with Deputy Commissioners on COVID-19-related issues.
Mr. Siddaramaiah had sought permission from the government to hold meetings with DCs to obtain information on management of the pandemic.
However, the government had denied permission.
Speaking at a press conference, KPCC working president Ramalinga Reddy, senior leader B.L. Shankar, and spokesperson Ramesh Babu said that fearing more lapses in the handling of COVID-19 getting exposed, the government had denied permission to Mr. Siddaramaiah. The Opposition Leader has been considered a “shadow CM” and the leader gets prominent place in several standing committees of the government to ensure transparency in the administration.
By denying permission to know the truth, the BJP government had been denying true facts related to COVID-19 patients and deaths.
The number of positive patients and COVID-19 deaths have been hushed up, Mr. Shankar alleged.
Mr. Reddy urged Legislative Assembly Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri to allow holding meetings of the public accounts committee of the state legislature. All committee meetings were temporarily suspended following a spike in pandemic cases.
