Woman killed in wall collapse

Bengaluru: A 35-year-old woman was killed in a wall collapse on Monday after heavy rains lashed the city, inundating many low-lying areas and leading traffic to pile-up. The chaos triggered by the rains led to a political blamegame with the opposition BJP targeting the Congress government over the city’s infrastructure and resultant civic issues.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the woes faced by the IT capital during rains was not new, but that the government was now working to fix them with a long-term solution. The city received about 104 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours, inundating many low-lying areas and leading to traffic pile-up, prompting the BJP to launch a scathing attack on the ruling Congress.

Former Deputy Chief Minister and MLA of Malleswaram, CN Ashwath Narayan criticised Shivakumar, saying, “Crores spent. Zero results.” Taking to ‘X’ he said: “Last night’s rains didn’t expose Bengaluru’s infrastructure — they exposed @DKShivakumar’s track record of the last two years of doing nothing.”

Karnataka BJP General Secretary and MLA of Karkala, Sunil Kumar Karkala challenged the government on ‘X’ to release a white paper on how much has actually been spent on Bengaluru’s infrastructure in the last two years.

“Visit Silk Board once — you’ll see your real contribution,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference, BJP spokesperson Ashwath Narayan Gowda said that “despite the weatherman predicting heavy rainfall almost a week ago, there were no efforts made to meet any monsoon-related exigency. The deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar is directly responsible for the rain havoc in the city”. He alleged that the deputy CM kept repeating ‘Brand Bengaluru’ and in the last assembly session, Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill was passed.

“From Brand Bengaluru to Greater Bengaluru, and now from Greater Bengaluru, it has now become Submerged Bengaluru. This is the achievement of the state government,” Gowda charged.