The remarks of Congress MLA H.C. Balakrishna that the five guarantee schemes may have to be reconsidered if the Congress fails to win majority of Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka has triggered a political row with the Opposition BJP terming this as “blackmail politics”.
Mr. Balakrishna, MLA from Magadi, reportedly said while addressing a peoples’ contact programme in his constituency on Tuesday that one would have to come to a conclusion that people are not in favour of guarantees if the Congress did not win majority of seats in the Lok Sabha polls. Hence, the guarantee schemes may have to be reconsidered if so, he had noted. He said that people will have to choose between the politics of “akshathe” (referring to campaign by the BJP around Ram Mandir) and the guarantee schemes. “If despite implementing guarantee schemes people choose ‘akshathe’ then it only means people do not value guarantees,” he said.
Taking exception to the statement, BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra wondered if it was not “blackmail politics”. He told media persons in Chikkamagaluru that people had already lost their faith in guarantee schemes as they were not being implemented properly.
