Criticising the Congress government, BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai has said that the closure of nine new universities will affect the deprived classes. 
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Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s claim that the Union government has not released its share of ₹18,000 crore under the Jal Jeevan Mission is far from the truth, BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai said in Haveri on Sunday.

“The Chief Minister has complained that Karnataka has suffered injustice in the form of Jal Jeevan Mission by denying it grants of over ₹18,000 crore. This is a complete lie. The State government should stop peddling lies and tell the truth to the people. If they tell the truth, then we can cooperate with them,” he told reporters.

“We will use our good offices, talk to the Ministers concerned and work to get funds released. We should not do politics on things like development of the State,” Mr. Bommai said.

“Jal Jeevan Mission scheme has been going on for the last four years. This scheme has been implemented in partnership with the Central and State governments. The Central government releases money after the State government spends it. The State government has emptied its treasury and is completely bankrupt and has not been able to spend the money. Additional funds will be released if the State government sends necessary documents to the Centre,” he said.

He criticised the State government’s decision to close down the nine new universities that were started by the BJP government. This will affect students from deprived communities like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and women, he said.

“We created these universities keeping in mind the need for the educational development of backward districts and to benefit Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and backward students. They did not need much funding. But then, the Congress government did not release a single rupee for these universities,” he said.

“They were being run from the fees paid by students. They were not given land either. If the government closes these universities, students, especially those from deprived classes, will suffer,” Mr. Bommai said.

He criticised the higher education policy that is skewed towards older universities. They are all getting crores of rupees in funding but what have they achieved? There are no students for several courses. Their quality has deteriorated and they have become centres of corruption, Mr. Bommai said.

He urged intellectuals to fight against the decision to close down the nine universities.

Reacting to a complaint by the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda that Karnataka has suffered injustice in the Godavari-Cauveri river linking issue, he said that he did not know what information Mr. Gowda has.

However, “if injustice has been done to the State, we will always fight in a non-partisan manner,” he said.