BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his rally in Bengaluru on Sunday, tried to reach out to farmers by declaring that `1 lakh crore will be allocated to complete all ongoing irrigation projects in the state if the BJP comes to power. “The countdown has begun for the end of Congress rule in the state. The Congress government in the state is at the exit door,” he said and asserted that his party will make Karnataka not only Congress-mukt, but even rid the state of Congress culture. “The country does not need Congress culture anymore,” he declared.
Dwelling at length on farmers’ plight, he listed out the welfare programmes announced by his government in the new budget, which include payment of 1.5 times the production cost as Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farm produce, Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme, government’s ‘TOP’ priority for market intervention scheme for farmers who grow perishable crops like tomato, onion and potato (TOP).
The BJP government at the Centre has proved its commitment for boosting the rural economy by allocating `14.50 lakh crore for schemes that touch the rural masses, Modi said. He devoted a major part of his address to showcase the positives of the Union budget and alleged failures of the Siddaramaiah government in utilising the central grants for development works.
Irregularities in K’taka
Modi, who was scathing in his attack on the Congress government in the state, accused it of creating hurdles in the development agenda of the Union government. The BJP government at the Centre has released `2 lakh crore in the last three-and-a-half years for the state but there is no sign if its utilisation on the ground, he remarked.
Comparing the style of functioning of the BJP government at the Centre and the earlier UPA government, Modi said while 950 km of national highways were developed in Karnataka during the last four years of the UPA regime, it has touched 1,600 km in the last three-and-a-half years of the BJP government.