‘Pleasing Rahul Gandhi’: Karnataka BJP chief slams Congress govt over Rs 15 lakh relief to kin of Kerala man killed by elephant

Taking to X on Monday night, BJP state chief B Y Vijayendra, who is the son of former chief minister B S Yediyurappa, said the Congress government’s move is an “outrageous misuse of Karnataka taxpayers’ funds to curry favor with Rahul Gandhi.”

The allocation of state funds worth Rs 15 lakh to a victim in Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad constituency by “falsely blaming a elephant from Karnataka is an appalling betrayal,” Vijayendra said, adding that the Congress government was “pleasing Rahul Gandhi” and prioritising his constituency even as farmers across Karnataka were hit by drought.

In a letter written to Rahul Gandhi on Monday, state Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre stated that a decision to pay compensation to the family of the farmer Ajeesh in Wayanad had been taken by the Karnataka government on his advice.

“I would like to submit that as per your advice to Sri K C Venugopalji which was conveyed through telephonic message to me yesterday and after discussing with Honble Sri Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister of Karnataka, accordingly Govt of Karnataka has announced compensation of Rs 15 lakh to the family of the deceased,” the minister’s letter said.

“Karnataka has the highest number of elephants (6,395) in the country and due to several reasons forest cover is decreasing. In this context, the number of elephants coming to human habitats is increasing. In this regard, I am planning to have a meeting of forest ministers of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to work out a plan of action to have a permanent solution for this menace to avoid man-animal conflict,” Khandre stated.

The elephant that trampled Ajeesh is a tuskless male (makhna) which had been captured in the Belur taluk in Karnataka’s Hassan district on November 30, 2023. It was radio-collared and translocated to Bandipur on the Karnataka-TN-Kerala border. Two months later, it was found to have strayed into Kerala’s Wayanad district.

“The Chief Minister agreed to pay compensation to the family of Shri Ajeesh at par with any citizen of Karnataka,” a communique from Khandre’s office said Sunday.

Three human deaths were reported recently even as residents of villages and towns bordering forests in Kerala, especially in Wayanad, have been up in arms over incidents of conflicts with wild animals.