Bengaluru

Karnataka BJP president B. Y. Vijayendra on Wednesday strongly criticised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, accusing him of presenting “misleading” data on government recruitment and neglecting the concerns of unemployed youth in the state.

In a post on X, Vijayendra alleged that the Congress government was attempting to deflect responsibility by blaming the previous BJP regime instead of taking concrete steps to fill vacant positions. He urged the chief minister to stop shifting blame and take accountability, claiming that students and job seekers would not be convinced by what he described as inflated figures.

His remarks came a day after Siddaramaiah stated that more than 2.64 lakh government posts were vacant when the Congress assumed office in 2023, attributing the backlog to the BJP’s alleged failure to conduct timely recruitments or establish a structured hiring plan.

The chief minister’s statement followed large-scale protests by government job aspirants in Dharwad, where demonstrators demanded immediate recruitment to vacant posts. Siddaramaiah had accused BJP leaders of politicising the issue and misleading students, while also pointing to alleged irregularities and corruption in recruitment between 2019 and 2023 as factors that weakened public trust.

Countering these claims, Vijayendra cited figures presented in the Legislative Assembly, asserting that only 8,157 appointments had been completed during the Congress government’s tenure, despite public claims that 40,000 posts had been filled. He questioned whether such discrepancies amounted to misleading the youth of Karnataka.

The BJP leader also claimed that a substantial number of vacancies remained unaddressed and raised concerns about the state’s financial condition. He criticised the government for delaying fresh recruitment drives despite what he termed legal clarity under the existing reservation framework.

Further, Vijayendra alleged that the government was prioritising political appointments to state-run corporations while unemployed youth continued to wait for opportunities. He warned that rising frustration among students and job aspirants could have serious consequences and urged the chief minister to accelerate pending recruitment processes with transparency.

READ MORE: Non-Muslim volunteers cook sheri for fasting Muslim students of Kota

Stressing growing unrest among young people, the BJP leader said the government would be held responsible if the situation worsened and called on the administration to act decisively to restore confidence.