BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday reiterated that BPL cards of eligible persons will not be cancelled.
The CM said he has directed Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa that eligible persons should not be deprived of BPL cards. “The Congress need not learn any lessons from the BJP, which has always been with the rich,” he stated.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the BJP and JDS leaders, including Union minister HD Kumaraswamy, have run out of issues to talk about. “They were the ones who did nothing for the poor during their term. Some government employees, income tax-payers, and economically well-off people are holding BPL cards.
We are only trying to review such cases. The Centre has set guidelines to determine poverty and we will decide basis that. In case the BPL cards have been wrongly cancelled, they will be restored. This has been decided by the chief minister,” he said.
He claimed that the Congress and its schemes have always been pro-poor. It was the Congress and not the BJP that gave several pro-poor schemes such as ration cards, pensions, foodgrains, sites under the Ashraya scheme, and title to the tiller, he said.
Asked if he had any information on offers made to his party MLAs by the BJP, Shivakumar questioned, “The media is not discussing issues pertaining to the BJP. Why is the media not discussing the issue of Rs 1,000 crore raised by (BJP leader Basangouda) Yatnal? The BJP has not issued a show-cause notice to Yatnal if he was wrong, why is that?”