Siddaramaiah invites KCR to Karnataka to see welfare than making wild allegations

Karnataka Chief minister Siddaramaiah addresses the media conference in Hyderabad on November 26, 2023.
| Photo Credit: K.V.S. Giri

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah invited Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao to Karnataka to see the implementation of the promises made to the people and not make wild allegations without verifying.

“The invitation is open even today and he can come with his officials and study how they are being implemented,” he said at a press conference here on Sunday while rejecting the BRS claims that Congress failed to implement the guarantees of given to the people during the elections.

He wondered why Karnataka farmers would travel all the way to Telangana and protest here if they have a problem there unless they are brought here by others. The CM was in Telangana to campaign for the Congress party candidates in Makthal and Musheerabad in the city.

Rejecting the claims of the BRS, he said he had seen some advertisements in newspapers and also the claims of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and also the BJP leaders. “They are all lies. We formed the government in May and the Cabinet took a decision to implement all five guarantees and orders were also issued immediately,” he said.

Mr. Siddaramaiah said the first guarantee, Shakthi Yojana was implemented on June 11, and recently the government celebrated 100 crores tickets were issued to women who travelled free of cost in the buses. He said about 61 lakh women travel everyday free in the buses and that includes his wife. “We don’t distinguish women by caste or religion.”

The Karnataka Chief Minister further said the Food Corporation of India (FCI) refused to provide rice for the additional 5 Kgs promised under pressure from the Central Government and that is why the Karnataka government was transferring Rs 4 crores that benefit over 37 lakh beneficiaries through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.

The Gruha Jyothi scheme started in July, providing free power to households covering the poor. Under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, 1.14 crore beneficiaries get benefits with ₹2,000 every month to the woman head of the family. The number will touch 1.17 crore as the registration process is still on.

The Yuva Nidhi scheme will start from January 2024, he said. The Chief Minister said all these schemes would cost ₹36,000 to 38,000 crores this year and the provision was made in the budget.