CHIKKAMAGALURU: AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge requested the voters of Karnataka to give a clear majority to Congress in the May 10 Assembly elections. He told reporters here that even winning 120 seats is not enough as there is a risk of Congress MLAs getting poached.
Without taking the name of any individual, Kharge said, “Even though we need 113 seats to form the government, 120 seats is also not enough as they poach our MLAs. They formed the government in the state after stealing our MLAs. Similarly, MLAs were stolen in Goa. We should be careful as there is a menace of thieves. I am not talking about anyone. We need to be very careful. Hence, we have set a target of winning 150 seats. A stable government is good for the country and citizens.”
Kharge also said that as soon as the Congress government is formed in the state, all its ‘guarantees’ will be approved in the first cabinet meeting. “We will implement ‘Gruha Jyothi’ under which 200 units of free electricity per month will be given to every household; ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ under which Rs 2,000 will be given per month to every woman head of household; ‘Yuva Nidhi’ under which Rs 3,000 per month will be given to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 per month to unemployed diploma holders and ‘Anna Bhagya’ which provides free 10 kg of rice per person per month to BPL families,” he said.
The Congress president said that for many years Karnataka was known for conscientious voting. “But now the BJP has made our state unpopular and infamous for the 40% commission government. The contractors’ association brought it to the notice of the PM. They gave details of how the present state government was looting them. People are fed up with this exploitation."
"If this 40% commission is extracted from contractors on every work then how can we expect quality in roads, buildings, schools, the health sector, or in any other development works? Even aided institutions and mutts have levelled the same allegation on the ruling government,” he alleged.
Kharge said that Congress has been raising this issue everywhere. “But the Centre is not uttering a word. ED and CBI will appear even for small things against the Opposition. They arm-twist our MLAs, MPs, and leaders to defect. As long as these leaders are in another party, they say they are corrupt. But the moment they defect, a clean chit is given to them. They have a huge washing machine where they put corrupt politicians and make them clean. That is why people wish to change this government,” he said.