HD Kumaraswamy slams Karnataka minister over remarks concerning ration cards

Shivamogga (Karnataka) [India] February 16 : Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday slammed state Food and Civil Supplies minister Umesh Katti over his remarks concerning criteria for below poverty line families getting ration cards.
Kumaraswamy alleged that the minister "does not know and understand the problems faced by the common man".
Referring to Nidhi Samarpan Abhiyan, a fundraising campaign for construction of grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya, he alleged that "volunteers who collect the money write down the name from the houses who do not give money".
"Nobody approached me till now. I do not know why they are marking the names," he said.
Replying to a query on JD-S supremo HD Devegowda's remarks about the party not contesting the Lok Sabha and assembly bypolls in the state, he said the former Prime Minister had made the remarks after "analysing the poor financial support of our candidates".
"The party workers pressured me to field the candidates. I discussed it with him and we will definitely contest in the upcoming bypolls," he said.