Bengaluru, Feb 25 (IANS) Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra on Wednesday accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of misleading the public regarding the number of government posts filled during the Congress government’s tenure in the state.

In a statement, Vijayendra alleged that the state government had presented contradictory information inside the Legislative Assembly and outside. He said official data provided by the government in the Assembly showed that only 8,157 government recruitments had been completed during the three years of the current administration.

However, Vijayendra claimed that the Chief Minister had publicly stated that 40,000 posts had been filled, which he described as false and misleading. Vijayendra questioned how long the government would continue to mislead the people and said such claims amounted to a betrayal of the unemployed youth of the state.

He further stated that as one of the longest-serving Chief Ministers, Siddaramaiah had a responsibility to present accurate information to the public. Misleading statements, he said, could worsen the frustration and anger among unemployed youth.

Vijayendra urged the Congress government to immediately complete the pending recruitment processes and address the concerns of job aspirants. He called on the government to stop spreading false claims and ensure justice to unemployed youth by filling vacant government posts without further delay.

Reacting to the protest by government job aspirants in Dharwad, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on Tuesday, had urged students to focus on education and assured faster recruitment.

“When we assumed office, more than 2.64 lakh government posts were vacant. This massive backlog did not arise overnight; it was the result of prolonged inaction under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government, which failed to initiate timely recruitments or create a structured roadmap to fill vacancies.”

CM Siddaramaiah further stated, “In the last 2.5 years alone, more than 40,000 job recruitments have been completed across departments. We are also conscious that many job aspirants have waited for years due to delays beyond their control. Recognising this hardship, the state government has relaxed the age criteria by more than five years for upcoming recruitments, ensuring that deserving candidates are not unfairly excluded because of systemic delays.”

It can be recalled that thousands of students, BJP activists, members of the All Karnataka State Student Association (AKSSA), and unemployed youths staged a massive protest in Dharwad on Tuesday, demanding that the Karnataka government immediately fill vacant posts in various state departments.

Leader of Opposition, R. Ashoka, commenting on the protest while speaking to the media, alleged in Chitradurga that the state government has failed to address unemployment despite having clearance to fill thousands of vacant posts.

He said that more than 2.5 lakh government posts are currently vacant in Karnataka, and the finance department had cleared recruitment for 65,000 posts nearly six months ago. However, no interviews have been conducted so far.

–IANS

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