BENGALURU: Soon after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced roll-out of the five guarantees, Opposition parties put the state government on the mat for putting riders on the freebies. Leading the attacks, JDS leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamy said the Congress has taken people for a ride with the conditional guarantees.
BJP state general secretary and MLC N Ravikumar said the various guarantees are causing confusion and will create problems. “How much will the guarantees cost? The government should disclose the cost. Will you use the money set aside for irrigation, roads, Metro and other development works?’’ he said.
On Yuva Nidhi, he said, “How is it possible for someone who just passed out to get unemployment allowance? Shouldn’t only those individuals who graduated and have gone a full year without finding work be regarded as unemployed? In reality, it ought to have been handed to them,” he added.
BJP National General Secretary CT Ravi demanded a white paper on the state’s economic status. “You promised 10 kg of rice per person per month free for everyone. In a video that Zameer Ahmed showed while going door to door, it was promised that if there are seven persons in a house, he will provide 70 kg rice. You just mentioned 10 kg for each family. Please specify if it is for a family or an individual,” he said.
Countries like Venezuela had gone bankrupt by giving freebies. “We hope that our state will not be reduced to this. How much money has been invested in infrastructure, debt and resources of our state? What is the loan’s interest rate? How much money is spent on wages and retirement benefits?” he said and emphasised that investing in infrastructure can help raise money, without which it will be impossible to implement the projects.