The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the Karnataka government of “illegally allocating” Rs 15 lakhs to the family of the Kerala man who was killed by a tuskless elephant that strayed into Wayanad – the constituency of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. According to BJP's Karnataka president, B Y Vijayendra, Congress government in Karnataka misappropriated taxpayers’ money "to curry favour" with the former party president.
In a post on X, Vijayendra expressed his disapproval, stating, “Illegally allocating state fund of Rs 15 lakh to a deceased individual from Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad constituency, falsely blaming an elephant from Karnataka, is an appalling betrayal”.
Vijayendra highlighted that despite the severe drought conditions and a distressing number of farmer suicides across Karnataka, the Congress government has "shamelessly prioritised pleasing Rahul Gandhi over addressing the state's urgent needs".
"CM Siddaramaiah and his cohorts must be held accountable for unethically looting Karnataka taxpayers' money and state treasury to cater to the Congress High Command's greed," the BJP state chief said.
He alleged that in the midst of its fight for survival, its ministers are leaving no stone unturned in exploiting every last rupee from the state’s coffers.
Announcement Of Compensation
On Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met with district officials in Wayanad and urged them to provide the assured compensation to the victims' kin without delay. This comes after 3 people were killed by wild animal attacks, including Ajeesh, who was killed by the elephant on February 10.
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Following this, elected representatives and the Government of Kerala had requested the Karnataka government to be largehearted and pay compensation for that case, the minister's office said.
Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre, on Sunday, announced that the state government has agreed to provide compensation to Ajeesh on par with the indemnity paid to the people of Karnataka killed by an elephant. In a statement, it was said that Khandre took up the matter of payment of compensation with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday, and that the CM agreed to pay the compensation.