CM Siddaramaiah slams BJP for 'peddling lies' on Jal Jeevan Mission
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday slammed BJP alleging that it "betrayed Karnataka" with regard to the Jal Jeevan Mission by not releasing the funds it had announced for the state.
The Chief Minister specially targeted Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti V Somanna charging that he was "peddling lies".
Media reports stated that Somanna told Lok Sabha that the state spent Rs 11,760 crore against the allocation of Rs 28,623 crore to Karnataka under the JJM.
"Union Minister Somanna is peddling lies to cover up the Union Government's deliberate sabotage of Jal Jeevan Mission in Karnataka!" Siddaramaiah said in a post on 'X'.
Siddaramaiah further said that the total allocation for JJM (in the state) was Rs 49,262 crore and in which the Centre's share was Rs 26,119 crore and the state's share was Rs 23,142 crore.
The total funds released was Ra 32,202 crore comprising central share of Rs 11,760 crore (that constitutes just 45 percent of its commitment) and the state's share Rs 20,442 (which constitutes "whopping 88.3 percent" of its commitment) crore and the total amount spent by the state was Rs 29,413 crore, he said in his post.
"Every rupee released by the Centre has been fully utilized by Karnataka. But the Modi Govt continues to block funds and deny Karnataka its rightful share." the Chief Minister alleged.
He further charged that the Centre's neglect continued in the financial year 2024-25.
"The Centre allocated Rs 3,804 crore but released a meager Rs 570 crore. Despite writing multiple letters no further funds have been released. Karnataka on the other hand has released Rs 4,977 crore from its own budget against an allocation of Rs 7,652 crore," Siddaramaiah said.
"This is not just Karnataka -- BJP's failure is national!" He added.
According to him the budget estimates for JJM during 2024-25 was Rs 70,163 crore. Revised estimates slashed to just Rs 22,694 crore, he alleged.
"The Narendra Modi government is systematically killing JJM while BJP leaders like Somanna shamelessly spread misinformation," he said.
Instead of misleading people, Somanna should question Prime Minister Narendra Modi on why Karnataka is being deprived of its due funds, Siddaramaiah said.
"The Congress Govt in Karnataka is delivering results despite BJP's sabotage. We are committed to ensuring safe drinking water for every household while the BJP-led Centre continues its step-motherly treatment of our state," he alleged.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
