Making a strong appeal to the people for supporting the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday reiterated that all five guarantee schemes, implemented by the Congress government under him, will continue for five years and added that there should be any doubt in the minds of the people about their continuance for full five years.
“The BJP is misleading the people falsely claiming that the schemes will be stopped after the Lok Sabha elections. As promised by us, the schemes have been implemented and the people will get the benefits of all schemes for five years. The benefits will not be stopped,” he stated, in his address after inaugurating the convention of beneficiaries of guarantee schemes in Mysuru.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said the government has fulfilled its promise. It’s been 10 months for the government now. The Congress got the thumping majority with 136 seats. “We are a government that practices what it says. The government takes inspiration from 12th century social reformer Basavanna and therefore he was declared the cultural ambassador of the State,” the Chief Minister observed.
Mr. Siddaramaiah maintained that during his previous term, 158 promises out of 165 were fulfilled. In his present term, the promises made had been fulfilled and the benefits were reaching the people, he said, urging the people to bless the Congress in the upcoming polls.
Giving an overview of the implementation of guarantees starting from Shakti to Yuva Nidhi, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the government came up with the guarantees as the people were suffering from the price rise. Living has become tough for the poor. People had no money and spending had become difficult. The guarantees brought money into their hands, supporting their livelihood, he explained.
Lashing out at the BJP for mocking the schemes, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the guarantees cannot be implemented and if implemented the State will go bankrupt. “Have we not implemented the schemes? Have we gone bankrupt,” Mr. Siddaramaiah asked.
Claiming that the benefits have reached everyone without any discrimination, he said the economically backward in the BJP are also availing the guarantees. Over 170 crore women have travelled free in State transport buses because of Shakti. On their behalf, the government gave money to KSRTC. “Is this a lie,” he asked.
Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala appreciated the Shakti scheme. It boosted economic activity, improving tourism, especially spiritual tourism. Pilgrim numbers went up, he said.
Thanks to the guarantee schemes, each family was getting about ₹5,000 to ₹6,000 a month or ₹50,000 to ₹60,000 a year. It has benefitted 1.20 crore families or 4.50 crore people. The government was working on the principles of Universal Basic Income. Last year, ₹36,000 crore was allocated to the schemes and this year a sum of ₹52,000 crore had been set aside in the Budget. The schemes will continue, said Mr. Siddaramaiah, while addressing the large crowds gathered at the Maharaja College Grounds.
In the recent job mela in Bengaluru, 10,000 jobs were created out of 80,000 registrations. “How many jobs did Mr. Modi create in 10 years? Mr. Modi promised to create two crore jobs every year. Where are the jobs and where is Achhe Din under Mr. Modi,” he questioned.
Minister in charge of Mysuru district H.C. Mahadevappa, Minister for Animal Husbandry K. Venkatesh, former Minister and MLA Tanveer Sait, MLAs K. Harish Gowda, Darshan Dhruvanarayan, Anil Chikkamadu, Ravishankar, and party leaders were present.
