Dismissing the BJP’s assumptions that the Congress government in the State will discontinue the guarantee schemes after the Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asserted that all the five guarantees will continue even after the elections.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the Congress government in Karnataka cannot implement the guarantee schemes. He had further said that the State will get economically bankrupt if they are implemented. We have been implementing the guarantee schemes for the last eight months and already spent ₹36,000 crore for them. Has Karnataka become bankrupt? We have allocated ₹52,009 crore for the implementation of the schemes in 2024-25,” he said.
“Now, the BJP is propagating that we will discontinue the schemes after the Lok Sabha elections. I would like to ask the BJP to stop spreading lies. People know that the BJP is a liar. India has seen several Prime Ministers after Independence. But it has never seen a Prime Minister who has spoken lies as many times as Mr. Modi has. The BJP is a factory that generates lies,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said, assuring the people that he will continue the guarantee schemes even after the Lok Sabha elections as he has promised.
He was addressing an election rally at Afzalpur in Kalaburagi district on Wednesday. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also participated in the event.
Drought relief
Describing in detail how the BJP-led Union government has denied Karnataka its rightful drought relief as per National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) norms, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the Centre has adopted a step-motherly approach towards the State.
“Karnataka suffered a severe drought this year. As many as 223 of the 240 taluks have been declared drought-hit. Standing crops on 48,000 hectares have been destroyed. The farmers suffered a crop loss of ₹35,000 crore. We sent a letter to the Union government in September last year seeking drought relief. In October that year, a Central team visited the drought-hit areas and submitted its report to the Centre,” he said.
“I sent Ministers Priyank Kharge, Krishna Byre Gowda and Cheluvaraya Swamy to Delhi to request drought relief. In December, I myself met Mr. Modi. The Union Home Minister then assured us that he will convene a High-Power Committee meeting and disburse relief. Even after all these efforts for seven months, the BJP government at the Centre has not released relief amount forcing us to move court in the matter,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
Countering Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who said that the Karnataka government is demanding money from the Centre not for paying drought relief to farmers but for implementing its guarantee schemes, Mr. Siddaramaiah told her not to worry about the implementation of the guarantee schemes as Karnataka is capable of mobilising money from its local sources for the purpose.
On the demand for Scheduled Tribes tag for Koli [Kabbaliga] community, the Chief Minister said that the State government wrote a letter to the Union government twice recommending the STs tag for the community but the Centre has not responded to it.
“The BJP is not concerned about the sorrows and sufferings of Dalits, poor, backward communities, farmers and women. Only the Congress can bring positive change and development for these disadvantaged sections. There is no Modi wave in the country. INDI Alliance and other like-minded parties will win the elections and form a government at the Centre,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
