BENGALURU: Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah on Sunday said that oppressed classes in the state had it better during the Congress government than during the BJP dispensation as the Grand Old Party cares for these sections.
To prove his point, he said, “When we presented our last budget of Rs 2.02 lakh crore, the allocation for SC, ST and oppressed sections was Rs 30,000 crore. Now when the budget size has increased by 50 per cent and is about Rs 3.10 lakh crore, why is the allocation for the oppressed sections, like SCs, Rs 30,000 crore? Is this fair?’’ He said,
“The reservation for the Scheduled Castes has been increased by the BJP government, but it has not been validated yet. Under BJP, assurances have remained just that.” He said, “The Dalit Sangharsha Samithi had demanded that 7D of the SC/P/TSP Act be removed. Dalit leaders in BJP have tolerated the Act and are lying to the people saying that money for SC/STs has been spent on irrigation.” He said,
“If we gave 10 kg of rice, BJP reduced it to 7 kg. It would have cost the government just Rs 3,000 crore more. The price of LPG was Rs 414 in 2013, but it is Rs 1,150 today. We have promised Rs 2,000 per month to women heads of each house to handle such expenses, but BJP is spreading misinformation that it cannot be done.
But we can do this by reducing borrowing, cutting unnecessary expenditures and collecting taxes properly. Every year, the budget size is increasing by Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 crore and welfare programmes for the people can be implemented.”He warned that BJP was ideologically the offshoot of RSS and Hindu Mahasabha, whose stand on these issues is well known.