MYSURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP for ridiculing the Congress over the five guarantees ahead of the Assembly elections. He was speaking after launching the Gruha Lakshmi scheme at the Maharaja’s College Grounds in Mysuru.
The CM said when the Congress announced the guarantees, the BJP leaders criticised saying the schemes would not be implemented if the Grand Old Party is voted to power. “But in 100 days, we launched four guarantees and have proved them (BJP) wrong,” the CM said.
He also used the occasion to target BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “BJP leaders and PM Modi said that Karnataka will go bankrupt if the guarantees are implemented. But now nothing has gone bankrupt and we are able to see progress and also happy faces of women,” Siddaramaiah said.
He further said that the Congress government has delivered on its poll promises and the party walks the talk unlike the BJP, which has completely forgotten its manifesto.
“We had fulfilled almost all the promises mentioned in the manifesto during the previous term and this time too of the five guarantees four have been implemented and the Yuva Nidhi scheme will be implemented by December or January,” he said.
He also praised the government’s Shakti scheme that offers free bus rides to women in Karnataka. “Happy faces and women in large numbers travelling to different places under the Shakti scheme in government buses each day is a testimony to the popularity of our government schemes. So far, over 48.5 crore women have travelled in government buses free of cost in the last 100 days. Over 1.1 crore women have registered for Gruha Lakshmi and over 1.56 lakh families are benefitting from the Anna Bhagya scheme. The government is spending Rs 56,000 crore towards the guarantees this year,” he elaborated.
As a symbolic launch, 10 women drawn from various Assembly constituencies of Mysuru were given digital cards and certificate of acceptance by Rahul Gandhi.
Delivering the keynote address on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had highlighted issues related to women, unemployment and other issues during his Bharat Jodo Yatra. “This made us come up with the five guarantees. We have fulfilled four of the five guarantees,” the DyCM said.
With over 1 lakh women present for the launch at the venue, several women had to sit outside the venue along the Krishnaraja Boulevard Road and listen to the speeches of politicians.
Meanwhile, vehicular movement was severely hit in the heart of Mysuru city, especially on Krishnaraja Boulevard Road, Hunsur Road, Kukkarahalli Lake Road, and JLB Road as traffic cops stopped movement of vehicles to allow entry of VIP vehicles and other convoys. Over 100 KSRTC buses which ferried women to the venue struggled to find space to allow the passengers to get off the buses.