Bangalore, Sep 4: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa today urged opposition party leaders not to mix politics with development programmes meant for the people. Speaking to newsmen here he regretted that though opposition leaders were invited to various functions organised recently in which the Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and himself took part, they were not present in any function.

He said, without referring to recent criticism made by Congress leader Siddaramiah in Mysore, it was unfortunate that they had indulged in politics and accuse the ruling coalition of organising functions without financial clearance. In fact every programme was given administrative approval and only then the functions were organised.

On the Mr Kumaraswamy's popular 'Grama Vasthavya' (Village Stay) programme, he said it only reflected that the local legislators, ministers in charge of districts and the officials were not discharging their duties well. He felt the need to make it mandatory for Deputy Commissioners and Tahsildars to stay for one day in a village at taluk level every month.

He said the Deputy Commissioners had also been directed to identify seven lakh beneficiaries to be covered under 'Sandhya Suraksha' old age pension scheme, for which the government had already earmarked Rs 250 crore for its implementation. The identification process should be completed by this month end, he added.

UNI