Karnataka govt accuses Centre of adopting ‘step-motherly attitude’ towards State on AIIMS issue
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil on Monday accused the Centre of adopting a ‘step-motherly attitude’ towards the State on the issue of setting up an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and upgrading existing government medical colleges.
He said the Centre was not responding to the state government’s repeated requests to set up the premier medical institution in Raichur district.
“All the states in India have got AIIMS except for Karnataka and Kerala. The Centre has to decide. This is a step-motherly attitude towards Karnataka,” Patil said responding to a question raised by JD(S) member K A Thippeswamy in the Legislative Council.
Thippeswamy charged the state government with "doing nothing" to get an AIIMS in Raichur and upgrade the existing government medical colleges to offer tertiary healthcare to people under the 'Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana'.
Patil dismissed the allegation and said he and Minister for Science and Technology N S Boseraju had met the then Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and requested for establishing an AIIMS in the State.
He said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and even personally handed over the request letter to sanction AIIMS but to no avail.
The Minister said the state government has identified land for AIIMS in Raichur and is ready to provide "whatever is required" to set it up.
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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah accuses EC of ‘bias’, defends state guarantee schemes ahead of bypolls
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has accused the EC of "double standards" and "bias" after it sought details on the state’s guarantee schemes in Davanagere and Bagalkot districts, where bypolls are scheduled for Thursday.
In a post on 'X' on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah said the Election Commission of India had asked the Karnataka government for information on fund releases under five ongoing guarantee schemes in the constituencies going to polls.
The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti, respectively.
The schemes are Gruha Jyothi, which provides 200 units of free electricity to every household; Gruha Lakshmi, offering Rs 2,000 to women heading families; and Anna Bhagya, supplying 10 kg of rice per month to each member of BPL families.
In addition, Yuva Nidhi grants Rs 3,000 to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders aged 18–25 for two years, while Shakti enables women to travel free of charge within Karnataka on government non-luxury buses.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the ECI had remained silent when similar cash transfer schemes were announced in Maharashtra and Bihar ahead of elections, calling the scrutiny of Karnataka’s schemes a "clear case of bias".
"In states like Maharashtra and Bihar, cash transfer schemes were announced or fast-tracked just before elections, directly benefiting voters. Yet the ECI remained silent. This is not neutrality—it is complicity," he said.
The CM accused the BJP and NDA governments of "a double standard", noting that when they act, the ECI "looks the other way", but when Karnataka fulfils its promises, it faces "intense scrutiny".
He added that targeting the state’s guarantee schemes is "not just political but anti-poor, anti-women, and anti-Karnataka."
Siddaramaiah clarified that these schemes were not launched in connection with the bypolls but are ongoing programmes implemented as part of the Congress government’s commitments from the 2023 Assembly elections.
Funds are transferred regularly to beneficiaries in a transparent and structured manner, he added.
"The guarantees are part of governance—a direct investment in human dignity, household stability, and economic participation, not inducement," he said.
He also accused the BJP of "hypocrisy", saying that while it criticises Karnataka’s schemes as "freebies", it rolls out similar programmes in states it governs.
"The Karnataka model has set a benchmark for the country. What is deeply concerning, however, is the ECI’s selective approach," Siddaramaiah added.
