H.D. Kumaraswamy attacks Congress guarantees in poll-bound states

Former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Urging the voters in the five poll-bound states “not to fall prey” to the Congress guarantees, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Sunday said that the Congress guarantees in Karnataka had failed and had not reached the beneficiaries properly.

“The Congress has misled the people of Karnataka. The four guarantees of Gruha Lakshmi, Gruha Jyothi, Shakti and Anna Bhagya have not reached all. Yuvanidhi has not started yet. The Congress is trying to mislead people of the five states,” the former Chief Minister told presspersons in Bengaluru. He said that it was his responsibility to warn people of the pros and cons of Congress guarantees. “The temporary Chief Minister (Chief Minister Siddaramaiah) and duplicate Chief Minister (Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar) are assuring guarantees in Telangana. Congress is running its election in five states with money from Karnataka,” he added.

The former Chief Minister said that guarantees have been detailed in six months after elections. “The treasury is empty and development has suffered. Ruling party members are up in arms. How will the government manage for the next four and a half years. When the situation is like this in Karnataka, how can the guarantees be implemented in Telangana?” Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the implementation of Shakti scheme for free travel for women has led to children travelling in earth movers while auto and cab drivers have lost their livelihood. “Congress wants to extend such a scheme to the rest of the country.”

The former Chief Minister also said that in the name of guarantees, Congress leaders are guaranteeing commission to their pockets. “If voters of these five states do not wake up to fake guarantees, it will affect their lives. The Congress government is making efforts to raise a debt of ₹85,815 crore while during my 20-month tenure, a loan of ₹3,500 crore was raised. Mr. Siddaramaiah has raised a total loan of ₹2.45 lakh crore during his earlier tenure. Currently, the total loan of the State now stands at ₹5,71 lakh crore. Every year, we have to pay ₹56,000 crore. He has no moral right to speak about the Centre raising loans,” he said, asking if the same model is being extended to Telengana.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said that resources from Karnataka is being spent in other states and that the Karnataka government is not bothered about addressing the problems of the State.