“Prime Minister Narendra Modi laughed at our guarantee schemes which we mentioned in our manifesto. After coming to power we delivered what he promised and now every poor family gets anywhere between ₹5,000 and ₹8,000 per month,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said.
Addressing a large gathering of party workers and voters under the Prajadhwani-2 convention at Old Hubballi on Thursday night, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that Mr. Modi spread the canard that Karnataka will become bankrupt if the Congress implemented guarantee schemes. Instead, the government has spent thousands of crores for implementing the guarantee schemes, he said.
The Chief Minister said that after realising the impact of the guarantee schemes, the BJP leaders are now spreading misinformation that the guarantee schemes will be stopped after the Lok Sabha elections. The guarantee schemes will continue for the whole five-year term of his government, he claimed.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said that while the Congress has delivered what it promised, Mr. Modi has not fulfilled his promises even after 10 years of his rule.
Taking a dig at MP and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, Mr. Siddaramaiah sought to know what Mr. Joshi has done for the region and the State. “When Karntaka was meted out injustice in drought relief and grants allocation, where was Mr. Joshi? Why did he not raise his voice against the injustice to the State? As an MP, he has failed to discharge his responsibilities and so people should defeat him and elect Congress candidate Vinod Asuti,” he said.
On Muslim reservation issue, he mentioned that it was the Bommai-led BJP government which abolished reservation, but, subsequently, it submitted an affidavit in court that it will continue with it.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said that Mr. Modi lied when he said that the Congress is snatching reservation meant for other backward classes and giving it to Muslims. Mr. Modi did not have proper information on the issue and spoke like RSS leaders, he said.
District in-charge Minister Santosh Lad said that in the last three months he had put several questions to the Prime Minister and other BJP leaders. However, till date they have not given any answer. They have begun talking on Muslims, Pakistan and Afghanistan, he said.
Mr. Asuti appealed to people to give him a chance to serve them. He said that the BJP is good at dividing people and taking benefit out of it. On the other hand, the Congress has always taken care of every religion and community, he said.
Member of Legislative Assembly Prasad Abbayya accused the BJP of cheating youths from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by not filling backlog posts.
Member of Legislative Assembly N.H. Konaraddi, Congress leaders and office-bearers, including Altaf Halwoor, Anilkumar Patil, A.M. Hindasgeri, Mohan Limbikai and I.G. Sanadi, and others were present.
