SHIVAMOGGA: Senior Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa on Monday stoked controversy, saying the government does “not own a printing machine” to mint currency notes and hand out compensation to thousands of working-class people hit hard by lockdown.
“Do we print notes (to extend doles),” he asked in Shivamogga in reply to opposition leaders’ demand that the BJP government must consider giving Rs 10,000 compensation to each working-class family.
On opposition leaders’ criticism of the way in which the state government is handling the Covid crisis, Eshwarappa said, “If they keep mum, then the lockdown will be a success.” He said former CMs Siddaramaiah, HD Kumaraswamy and Congress state unit chief DK Shivakumar should “keep their mouth shut for 14 days so that we can tide over the crisis”. “It is not the time to criticise the government since the pandemic has attacked India after 100 years,” he said.