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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah invites KCR to his state to see Congress guarantees being implemented
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah invites KCR to his state to see Congress guarantees being implemented
"When I came here earlier (as part of campaigning), I gave an open invitation to Chandrasekhar Rao to come to Karnataka and discuss with us and verify the documents. But, he did not come. Even today I will ask Chandrasekhar Rao: Please come to Karnataka and don't make such allegations unnecessarily for election purposes," Siddaramaiah said. "You can verify...I don't know why they are telling lies. I can understand if Chandrasekhar Rao makes statement that the guarantees are not being implemented because he is facing the elections -- and for the purpose of elections he is saying lies and his son is also telling lie. I don't know why others are telling lies," he said. Siddaramaiah said he was sure that the Congress will win the Telangana assembly elections. "Congress will, 100 per cent, come to power in Telangana and all the six guarantees that have been promised will be implemented. Nobody should doubt it," he said. On the Congress's five guarantees in Karnataka, he said the first guarantee 'Shakthi' scheme, providing free bus travel for women, was implemented in June and it has logged over 100 crore rides recently. On the 'Anna Bhagya' scheme which was to provide 10 kg rice for free, Siddaramaiah said the Food Corporation of India refused to supply the additional five kg rice under "pressure" from the Centre and hence his government was paying cash instead of the five kg rice promised to each beneficiary through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) since July.
Siddaramaiah further said the 'Gruha Jyothi' scheme, which promises 200 units of free electricity to households, started in July.
Regarding 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme, which provides ₹2,000 per month to the women head of the families, he said the scheme started in August and 1.14 crore beneficiaries have been covered so far and registration is continuing. Siddaramaiah said the fifth guarantee 'Yuva Nidhi' scheme, ( ₹3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and ₹1,500 for diploma holders) offering unemployment allowances, will commence in January 2024. These schemes require about ₹38,000 crore for this year and already budget allocation has been made, he said. There is no question of cheating the people at all, he said adding that the Congress party never cheated the people. "Whatever promises Congress party made in its manifesto and also the five guarantees, we are implementing and we are going to implement," he said. He said all the developmental works are also going on and there is no dearth of funds to carry them out. Dismissing the charge that Karnataka would become bankrupt due to the guarantee schemes, Siddaramaiah said, "The economy of Karnataka is very good and sound and we are implementing all the promises made to the people of Karnataka". When asked about senior BJP leader and former Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa's accusation that Congress was deceiving the people by not implementing its five pre-poll guarantees after coming to power, Siddaramaiah said he (Yediyurappa) is "frustrated and making false statements". Reacting to a comment on reports that Karnataka farmers were staging protests in Telangana, he said, "They are not Karnataka farmers, I know that. No farmer from Karnataka came to Telangana; why will they come and protest here?". Responding to another query, he said "We have fulfilled five guarantees in the first phase and also 76 promises. A manifesto is always for five years and at once (in one go) we cannot implement all the promises".
