Mangaluru: Senior Congressman and former union minister Janardhana Poojary has slammed both the Congress and the BJP of having an unholy nexus to execute the disastrous Yettinahole Project and said that the state refuses to learn a lesson from the recent Chennai catastrophe.

Addressing a news conference at the Congress office here on Saturday December 5, he said that both the parties are not coming out clear on their stand on the project, but are staging theatricals misleading to the people.

“Even after witnessing the Chennai disaster, the government has not taken a cue from it. The Chennai government destroyed all natural resources to make way for infrastructure development and as a result, the water is clogged. The Siddaramaiah government in the state is adamant on executing the Yettinahole project at the earliest and it is fully bagged by the BJP.

Tragedies are bound to happen if the Western Ghats are destroyed in order to construct dams and divert water bodies. Nobody can mess with the nature,” he said addressing a press meet at the Congress office here on Saturday December 5.

He asserted that though the political bigwigs were aware of the consequences, they were keen on introducing the project purely for money and power.

Poojary angry on Siddaramaiah, Jayalalithaa

Poojary seemed to be in full swing as he lashed out at both Siddaramaiah and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitaa for their outlook towards the Chennai upheavel.

While he condemned the ‘egotism’ of Jayalalithaa to refuse help from the state governments, he criticized the ‘cheap mentality’ of Siddaramaiah to announce help of just Rs 5 crore to the flood-hit state. Poojary said that though the Tami Nadu chief was adamant to accept help, Siddaramaiah should announce a compensation of atleast Rs 25 crore.

It may be noted that Jayalalithaa had yesterday declared that she was ‘contended; with the centre’s aid and did not need financial support from any of the state governments.