Recalling his promise made to the people of Ballari in one of his public meetings there during the last Assembly elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that the plans for making Ballari the jeans capital of the world are on.
“When I came to Ballari during the last Assembly elections, I promised five guarantees and we have fulfilled them. Apart from the guarantees, I made another promise to Ballari. I said that Ballari will be made the jeans capital of the world. We will fulfil this promise also. A good jeans apparel park will be established and Ballari will become the jeans capital. You need not worry about it. I have already talked to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The plans are on and your work will be done,” he said.
Mahalakshmi Yojana
Speaking in detail on his party’s plans to empower women, Mr. Gandhi said that his party, if voted to power, will pay ₹1 lakh a year to woman heads of poor families in the country.
“We will first make a list of poor families in the country and choose woman heads of those families. We will then start depositing ₹8,500 a month to each one of them. Karnataka government is already paying ₹2,000 a month to them under its Gruha Lakshmi scheme. We will add ₹8,500 to make it ₹10,500 a month,” Mr. Gandhi said and claimed that no government in the world has ever implemented such a big scheme.
Criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his pro-corporate policies, Mr. Gandhi said that his party will work to give financial stability to the vast majority of poor people.
“The BJP gives money to select people. Mr. Modi has given the country’s capital to people like Adani. They [BJP] give money to the rich and we give money to the poor. I tell you that as much money as Mr. Modi has given to the top 22 rich people in India, we will give so much money to the poor people of this country,” Mr. Gandhi said and added that the Karnataka government has shown the way to the country by implementing its guarantee schemes to realise the goal.
Other promises
The other promises that Mr. Gandhi made in his address include doubling income of ASHAs and anganwadi workers, increasing MGNREGA wages to ₹400 a day, 50% reservation for women in all government jobs, waiving farm loans, abolishing Agniveer scheme, replacing wrong GST with pro-poor GST and providing apprenticeship to youths with a payment of ₹8,500 a month.
“Mr. Modi has prepared 20 crorepatis and we will prepare crores of lakhpatis. Mr. Modi has written off ₹16 lakh crore corporate loans, which is equal to 25-year MGNREGA wages paid to the poor. Mr. Modi has waived loans of the rich and we will waive farm loans of the poor. We will give farmers legally guaranteed Minimum Support Prices for their crops,” Mr. Gandhi said.
Minister of Youth Empowerment and Sports B. Nagendra, Congress Ballari candidate E. Tukaram, Ballari MLA Nara Bharath Reddy and other senior party leaders were present.
