PM Manmohan Singh attacks BJP government in Karnataka

HUBLI: Taking on the BJP government in Karnataka, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today charged that "bad governance" and " corruption" had slackened state's progress and a sense of insecurity was prevalent among the minorities.

Hitting the campaign trail for the May five Assembly polls here, Singh said BJP had changed three Chief Ministers in the last five years and a probe had been ordered against several of its politicians on charge of corruption.

"...bad governance, carelessness in development works and above all corruption has led to the slackening of progress in Karnataka", the Prime Minister said in this northern part of the state, where the ruling BJP draws much of its strength.

Singh said attention was neither being paid to agriculture nor employment. A number of irrigation works are incomplete and even the works taken up under accelerated irrigation development programme were unsatisfactory.

Also, no attention has been paid to infrastructure, resulting in a number of industries going to Hyderabad and Pune.

"... I am particularly unhappy about the lack of development, especially in minority pockets like Raichur, Bellary, Gulbarga and Bidar... Lack of communal harmony and sense of insecurity among the minorities is prevalent," Singh said.