BJP MLC and former Minister A.H. Vishwanath has questioned the achievements of the Congress Government in the State ahead of the ‘Sadhana Samavesha’ planned in Tumakuru on May 20.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Mr. Vishwanath said he too had received an invitation to the Sadhana Samavesha, but had not been provided with any information about the government’s “achievements”.

He said it was for the people to hail the government’s achievements. “You should not pat yourself on the back,” he said, while contending that the present government had forgotten the welfare of the people and was spending large sums of money on advertisements in the media about its programmes.

Despite the advertisement blitz, the public does not believe the government’s claims, he said. Referring to the samavesha, he alleged that people were being mobilised by paying them money, ferrying them in buses and providing them lunch. “It is a bad tradition,” he said.

When asked about the government’s achievements, Mr. Siddaramaiah merely points to the free rice scheme, Mr. Vishwanath said. “Were the people of the State dying of hunger before he came to power?” he asked.

He also said the other guarantee schemes should have been restricted to the poor and the genuinely needy. Instead, the Gruha Jyothi scheme, which provides free power supply up to 200 units, has been extended to everyone, he lamented.

Mr. Vishwanath trained his guns on Mr. Siddaramaiah and alleged that the State’s financial discipline had been ruined by the Chief Minister, who also holds the Finance portfolio.

He alleged that Mr. Siddaramaiah uses special flights not only to attend meetings in Delhi, but also to visit Mysuru. He claimed that the Chief Minister had so far spent ₹38 crore on travel by special flights. “Whose money is it? It is money earned through the sweat of the people of the State,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Vishwanath justified Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to defer the purchase of gold for a year and adopt other such measures, saying similar calls for austerity had been given earlier when the country was in a difficult situation.

He recalled former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s appeal to citizens to skip one meal a week to fight food shortage, and his call to the rich and wealthy to donate gold and money during India’s war with Pakistan.