Taking a dig at Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who expressed the intent of Union Government to stop government subsidies, Chief MInister Siddaramaiah severely criticised him, saying that the BJP which is basically pro-corporate and pro-capitalist does not care for the poor and the marginalised and hence it is only natural that Arun Jaitley has made such statement.
After laying foundation stones for various developmental works including upgradation of Pavagada (Tumakuru district) and Malavalli (Mandya district) of length 193 km at an estimated cost of Rs. 575 crore at Government Junior college grounds in Midigeshi in Madhugiri taluk in the district on Thursday afternoon, Mr. Siddaramaiah criticised BJP’s anti-poor approach and said subsidies are necessary to provide social justice and economic empowerment of the poor people.
He said his government will strongly oppose any steps to curb subsidies for the poor sections of the society and anti-poor policies.
He said that the government will see the pros and cons of giving the shoes freely to the students of government schools from standard first to tenth in the state and then will announce it in the next budget.
He said they are also planning to provide milk for the students in government schools for five days.
Speaking to reporters at the helipad in Midigeshi, referring to the resumption of “Made Snana” at Kukke Subramanya temple, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that “I personally oppose “Made Snana”, however I will respect the verdict of the court”.
Answering to a question about dropping of tainted ministers from his cabinet, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that “ there are no tainted ministers in my cabinet”.
Minister for Public Works Department, Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, T.B. Jayachandra, MLA of Madhugiri assembly constituency, K.N. Rajanna, MP, S.P. Muddahanumegowda, MLA’s, former minister of Andhra Pradesh, Raghuveera Reddy and others were present.