MYSURU: Skyrocketing fuel prices, inflation and cut in grants for welfare programmes have turned into handy tools for the Congress, as Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah painted the BJP governments at the State and Centre as anti-people and urged voters to reject them in future elections.
Addressing a party workers’ meet at Hunsur, near here, he listed out “failures” of the Yediyurappa government and called upon people to end the “misrule in Karnataka”.
He set the tone for the ensuing zilla and taluk panchayat elections, claiming that the Congress will return to power in the State in 2023. “We will come back to power ... 100 per cent ... there is no doubt,” the former chief minister added.
Claiming that the BJP government headed by Yediyurappa has failed on all fronts, he urged people to reject the BJP in elections and not get carried away by the lies of the JDS.Announcing that Congress will provide 10 kg rice to BPL families once it returns to power, he criticised the BJP government for reducing the quantity from 7 to 5 kg. Now, it is said that it will be further reduced to 3 kg, he added.
Urging people to take to streets against the ration cut and steep hike in fuel prices, he slammed the government for ending shadi bhagya, shoe bhagya and Vidyasiri, the programmes launched by his government. He said that the Yediyurappa government has failed to waive off farms loans as assured by the BJP in its election manifesto or give fresh loans to farmers. Housing projects for the poor have suffered as the government has not released funds. On the contrary, the previous Congress government built more than 15 lakhs houses, he added.
He said the Congress government fulfilled all the 165 assurances made in its manifesto and also introduced 20 more programmes, including Indira Canteen for the poor. “What can we expect from a government that has not paid scholarships to students and not provided food to hostel students during the pandemic,” he asked.