Bengaluru, Nov 6 (IANS) Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Karnataka Assembly R. Ashoka on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Congress government, accusing it of pushing the state towards financial bankruptcy and neglecting the healthcare needs of the poor.  Addressing Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Health Minister U.T. Khader, Ashoka questioned whether the government had brought the state to such a situation that even government hospitals did not have funds for basic blood tests.

He alleged that government hospitals, which were meant to serve as a lifeline for the poor, were facing a shortage of funds and that patients were being forced to approach private laboratories and medical stores. Ashoka alleged that while hospitals had equipment, there were no funds available for blood tests. He further claimed that laboratories were being shut and poor patients were being pushed towards private laboratories, alleging that this was part of a commission-driven racket. He also alleged that government hospitals were facing shortages of basic medicines, including cough tablets and paracetamol, forcing poor patients to spend thousands of rupees at private medical stores.

"Who is responsible for all this? Who should be held accountable?" Ashoka questioned. He further alleged that the government did not have funds for blood tests for poor patients or scans for pregnant women and accused it of neglecting public healthcare while benefiting private laboratories. Reacting to reports of alleged fund shortages in government hospitals, Ashoka charged that the Congress government was "squeezing the blood of the poor" and had reduced the public healthcare system to a state of financial distress. "The Congress government has completely looted the state treasury, pushed the government towards bankruptcy and destroyed the entire administrative system. It should be ashamed," he said.

In a separate attack on the government, Ashoka alleged that fellowship funds had not been released for 45 research students under the Minority Welfare Department for the past 11 months, pushing financially vulnerable students into debt and distress. He said students, farmers and transport employees had all been pushed into difficulties due to what he termed the Congress government's misgovernance. Listing what he described as examples of the state's financial crisis, Ashoka alleged that the government did not have funds to pay Gruha Lakshmi scheme beneficiaries, clear dues to transport corporations and electricity supply companies, provide drought relief to farmers, purchase diesel for government buses or release fellowships for research students.

Ashoka questioned the Chief Minister about the state's finances and asked where the crores of rupees collected through increased taxes and price hikes had gone if the government did not have funds for development across various sectors and for the future of poor students. "The government has hit the poor hard and pushed the state into a complete financial crisis. It has no moral right to continue in office," he charged, demanding that the government apologise to the people of Karnataka and resign. Ashoka said the Congress government's "days were numbered" and alleged that its financial mismanagement and neglect of the poor would ultimately lead to its downfall.

--IANS