Bengaluru: BJP MLA from Molkalmuru, Karnataka, has criticised former chief minister Siddaramaiah for not visiting his constituency of Badami after it was left devastated by floods.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, he said, “Badami was hit by floods. It is Siddaramaiah’s constituency. It was this place that gave him a rebirth in Karnataka politics. But he was away in Delhi, devouring biryani.”

The leader also took at a dig at the former CM, adding, “He criticises Prime Minister Narendra Modi for conducting an aerial survey. The loss is pegged at lakhs together. But at least, he could have visited his constituency and consoled the victims, which he has failed to do so.”

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Siddaramaiah had undergone an eye surgery earlier this month. During the floods, he had chosen not to visit Badami as he had not fully recovered. But the BJP leader left no stone unturned to run Siddaramaiah down on this issue as well.

He said, “What has he done for Badami? Has he gone there spoken to people? Has he solved their basic problems? He has done nothing. He says he had some problem in his eye, but when he went to Delhi and ate biryani, what had happened to his eye problems?”

In the last year’s Assembly elections of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah stood from two places, Chamundeshwari from the south and Badami of Bagalkot in the north. Though Chamundeshwari was his regular constituency, he suffered an ignominious defeat at the hands of GT Devegowda, a JD(S) leader. It was Badami that helped him reach the Assembly as he won there comfortably.

Incidentally, while Sriramulu was disdainful in his criticism of Siddaramaiah, a video of his playing kabaddi in Ballari went viral at the time of floods. Embarrassed at this, he issued a clarification that the programme had already been scheduled and there was no way he could give it a miss.