BENGALURU: State Janata Dal-Secular president HD Kumaraswamy on Monday continued his tirade against Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar over the implementation of the guarantee schemes
in Karnataka. Kumaraswamy also hit out at Shivakumar, saying that Karnataka is not his “republic”.
Taking to social media, Kumaraswamy demanded a white paper on the guarantee schemes being implemented by the Congress government in the state. Kumaraswamy alleged that the guarantees — which propelled the Congress to power in Karnataka in this year’s elections — failed to reach the beneficiaries. The former chief minister demanded that the State government release a white paper giving details on the implementation, the number of beneficiaries, and the financial implications to the state’s exchequer due to the guarantees.
“Let DK Shivakumar issue a white paper and I am ready to discuss. I am also ready to discuss documents in the upcoming legislature session. I have details of the guarantee schemes implemented in Channapatna as well as other 223 Assembly constituencies. I have the details of how you have fooled the people,” Kumaraswamy, the MLA for Channapatna, added.
The two leaders have been attacking each other over the guarantees, especially in the aftermath of the Congress announcing similar schemes in election-bound Telangana. Kumaraswamy had asked voters in election-bound states, especially Telangana, not to get misled by the promises made by the Congress. Shivakumar shot back saying Kumaraswamy should approach the voters of his constituency Channapatna to know the success of the schemes.
Kumaraswamy said the guarantee schemes will damage the financial status of the state permanently. “Your government is going to give a begging bowl to the people. You are trying to get votes through this. We need to make people self-reliant and not make them beg. One of your colleagues said there is a need for such a guarantee gimmick to win polls,” he slammed Shivakumar.
HDK angry with voters as they rejected JDS: CM
Hitting out at Kumaraswamy, CM Siddaramaiah questioned why he was angry about the poor and pro-poor schemes. The CM said Kumaraswamy was angry with people as they rejected his party in the Assembly polls. “People accepted our guarantee schemes and that is why they voted for Congress. When Congress announced guarantee schemes during polls, both BJP and JDS opposed it and that is why they lost the polls too. Now, if they continue to oppose this, both the parties are going to lose in Lok Sabha polls too,” the CM said.