BELAGAVI: The CPEd Ground here, which was decked up for the mega Congress convention on Friday, became the venue of the party’s condolence meeting where its state leaders recalled the contributions of former prime minister Manmohan Singh for the country’s growth.
Paying rich tributes, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Dr Singh was an eminent economist who served as PM for 10 years. When senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi declined to become PM, she chose Dr Singh for the top post. Dr Singh led the government at the Centre successfully.
During his tenure as finance minister in the Narasimha Rao cabinet, Dr Singh not only initiated measures that revived the Indian economy, but also its global standing.
Siddaramaiah said Dr Singh had described Karnataka’s economy from 2004 to 2018 as robust. He was globally recognised as an eminent economist and had occupied prominent positions. Despite his achievements, Dr Singh lived a simple life and remained humble, the CM added.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that he would place a proposal before the CM and the higher education minister to set up a centre for economics studies and research in Bangalore University in honour of Dr Singh.
Shivakumar said Dr Singh’s initiatives such as the right to education, right to health and the right to food made a big difference as far as the country’s growth is concerned. The move to increase compensation for losses incurred by farmers was taken by Dr Singh. Dr Singh waived 70,000 farm loans for the first time in the country, Shivakumar added.
Several Congress leaders, including former CM Veerappa Moily, Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil spoke about the life and achievements of Dr Singh.
CM, DCM for New Delhi
Soon after the condolence meeting, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar left for New Delhi to attend the funeral of Dr Singh