BENGALURU: With hours left for the results of the bypolls to Sandur, Shiggaon and Channapatna Assembly constituencies to be declared, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was on a visit to New Delhi on Thursday, exuded confidence that the Congress will win all the three seats.
Discarding the exit polls that have given two seats to the NDA and one to the Congress, Siddaramaiah said, “What happened in the exit poll in Haryana” I cannot believe it. According to the information I have about the byelections, we will win all three seats.”
On the revision of BPL cards, he alleged that the BJP was politicising the matter, and hew clarified that he had instructed that no one, except government employees and taxpayers, should be removed from the BPL card facility.
“BJP, which opposed the Food Security Act, implemented by the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh as PM at the Centre, talks about the poor? We implemented the scheme to provide free food items. We said that government employees and taxpayers should not be given BPL cards. This scheme is for the poor. Are government employees eligible for BPL?” he questioned.
“We have implemented five guarantees. Have they done this in the states where the BJP is in power? Has the SCSP/TSP Act been implemented anywhere? The BJP has no concern for the poor,” he claimed.
“In Karnataka, 7 kg of rice was given free by Siddaramaiah’s government. It was BS Yediyurappa, who reduced it from 7 kg to 5 kg. R Ashoka was in his cabinet. Why didn’t he breathe a sigh of relief, when 2 kg was reduced?” he asked.
On the BJP’s allegation that there is no money for the guarantees, he hit back, stating that he did not ask for a loan from the BJP. He claimed that the implementing guarantees had not affected the development at all as Rs 1.2 lakh crore was allotted in the budget.
Responding to the claim that some Congress MLAs were miffed with the lack of grants for their Assembly segments, the CM maintained that they were asking for special funds. “We have given what they had sought for apart from the budget, but may be unable to give as much as they asked for. No guarantees will be stopped or revised either, as alleged by the BJP,” he said.