BJP MLA representing Chamaraja Assembly constituency in Mysuru L. Nagendra hit back at Mysuru MP Pratap Simha on Sunday as the row among the BJP’s elected representatives deepened over digging up of the roads in the city for implementing the piped cooking gas project.
A day after Mr. Simha criticised Mr. Nagendra, who had raised questions over repair of roads that will be dug up for laying gas pipelines, the latter not only reiterated that he had the right to hold somebody accountable for repair of the roads dug up during the project, but also countered the accusations levelled against him by the MP.
While more than 500 km of the roads in the city, mostly in Chamaraja Assembly constituency will be dug up for the project, the amount of money set aside for repair of the roads was a measly ₹98 crore, he said. This amount will barely be enough for patchwork on the roads that had recently been laid. Mr Nagendra said he had asked the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) officials to provide him the estimate for repair of the roads to be damaged during the project.
The MLA also questioned the MP’s for jumping to the defence of the private company executing the project. As an MLA, Mr. Nagendra claimed that he had a right to raise questions over the damage to the roads and he had written only as much in the letter to the MCC authorities. “What was the need for him (Pratap Simha) to talk about so many things other than the topic?”, he questioned.
With regard to Mr. Simha’s contention that the Chamaraja MLA had not been able to bring even ₹30 crore for development work of his constituency, Mr. Nagendra on Sunday displayed a list of works taken up in his constituency at a cost of ₹526 crore since was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2018. “My office staff have collected so many details since yesterday. There may be more,” he said.
Reacting to Mr. Simha’s claim that Mr. Nagendra was unable to ensure the victory of the BJP candidate contesting from his own residential area in the last MCC polls, the MLA hit back at the MP and questioned how many members had he been able to elect to the Mysuru Zilla Panchayat comprising 49 seats. Also, he asked Mr. Simha why he was unable to ensure the victory of Raghu Kautilya in the recently-held elections to the Legislative Council from the local bodies’ constituency of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar. “My supporters are asking me how many seats he helped win in the elections,” Mr. Nagendra said.
Further, Mr. Nagendra sought to clarify that Mr. Simha himself had issued tickets to several of his followers in the MCC polls and asked if he was able to ensure their victory. The MLA claimed that he was able to ensure the victory of six candidates out of the 18 MCC wards that fell in his constituency.
When reporters asked him about the public squabbling among the BJP’s elected representatives of Mysuru, Mr. Nagendra said he had already been brought to the notice of party’s State unit President Nalin Kumar Kateel and Minister in charge of Mysuru district S.T. Somashekar.
