BENGALURU: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and his counterpart in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjuna Kharge, are expected to take part in the celebrations marking the completion of the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government’s two years in office at Hosapete on May 20.
The government has seized upon the ceasefire between India and Pakistan as an opportunity to go ahead with the scheduled mega rally and hit out at the Centre on development issues.
Ministers have already started reviewing their respective departments and sharing data on their achievements to impress the party high command.
The government is gearing up with data on its success stories to project it as ‘Karnataka model of development’. The state’s progress in various fronts and success of the guarantees are likely to be juxtaposed with the Centre’s non-cooperation for the state’s development saga.
The CM has already said that the Centre has not released its share of Rs 4,195 crore grants against the centrally-sponsored schemes. Siddaramaiah is likely to highlight that out of 140 crore people in India, 100 crore have no discretionary money to spend by quoting the Blume Ventures report. He would also put forth the theory that only the rich get richer and the poor get poorer because of the Centre’s economic policies.
On the other hand he would highlight that the two of the guarantees, Shakti, free travel for women in government-run buses’ and Gruhalakshmi, Rs 2,000 for every woman head of a family per month, are bringing in revolutionary changes, as assessed by independent private agencies.
Siddaramaiah is also likely to defend himself as he has not diverted the SC/SP and TSP grants meant for the welfare of the SC/STs and point out that the Centre has diverted it to certain development works, according to sources.
Karnataka is standing first in the devolution of power in the Panchayat Raj system, Global Investors’ Meet (GIM), Invest Karnataka-2025, attracting Rs 10.27 lakh crore investment commitment generating six lakh jobs would also be highlighted.
It is expected that RDPR minister Priyank Kharge and Industries minister MB Patil would get a pat for their initiatives. Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has taken the initiative to issue title deeds to one lakh residents for their houses in hattis and tandas across the state. The same will be distributed at the May 20 rally to show that the government is with the pro-poor.