The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) spokesperson and MLA for Chittapur in Kalaburagi district Priyank Kharge alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party had not fulfilled even 10% of the promises it made in the last Assembly elections in the State.
“In the run-up to the Assembly Elections of 2013, we had, in the Congress manifesto, made 165 promises. After coming to power, we fulfilled 158 promises. The BJP, in its manifesto, made 600 promises during the 2018 Assembly elections and fulfilled only 10% of them as per its own reports. The ruling BJP is more interested in 40% commission than fulfilling its promises to people,” Mr. Priyank said at a media conference convened at the Congress office in Kalaburagi on Thursday.
Equipped with authentic data obtained from the official sources, Mr. Priyank went on to detail sector-wise how the ruling party had failed to deliver on the promises it made during the last assembly elections.
“On the women and child development front, the BJP had made 26 promises and it could fulfil only two. For youth development, it had made 18 promises and fulfilled only one. On the sub-head of inclusive growth, the saffron party had made 81 promises and could fulfill only four of them. In the governance and safe Karnataka sub-head, it had made 32 promises and it could meet only seven of them. For education, it had made 32 promises and met only three of them. For health, it had promised 40 promises and could meet only five of them. In the infrastructure development, the BJP had made 48 promises and could fulfil only 8 of them. Under the sub-head of economic and industrial development, the ruling party had made 23 promises and fulfilled only one of them. Under the regional head, it had made 18 promises and it could fulfil none of them. For clean and green Karnataka initiatives, the BJP had made 14 promises and could fulfil only one of them,” Mr. Priyank said making it clear that the information he provided was based on the data supplied by the government.
On Union Budget
Mr. Priyank commenced his media conference by unleashing an attack on the Union government against the backdrop of the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on Wednesday.
“It was the Budget that goes against the interests of workers, farmers, women, Dalits and other marginalised and working populations of the country,” Mr. Priyank said.
“Finance Minister [Ms. Sitharaman did not speak a word about the working class. The allocation to the working class was just 0.1% of the budget and it is lesser than Rs. 9167 crores as compared to the last budget. Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks volumes about his ambition of creating a hunger-free India. But, the allocation in the budget for food subsidy is reduced from Rs. 2,88,969 crores in the last budget to Rs. 1,97,350 crores in the current budget. The allocation to Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which is an important welfare scheme to safeguard the livelihood of the rural population has come down from Rs. 98,460 crores to Rs. 60,000 crores in the current budget,” Mr. Priyank said.
Hitting at BJP’s repeated claim of being a pro-farmer government, Mr. Priyank questioned how the ruling dispensation could be called pro-farmer when the allocations to fertilizer subsidy were reduced from ₹2.25 lakh crores in the last budget to ₹1.75 lakh crores in the current Budget.
“Apart from reducing the fertilizer subsidy to farmers by around ₹80,000 crores, the BJP government has also cut as much as ₹8,000 crore for PM Kisan Yojna. Unemployment is at a record 45-year high in the country and the Finance Minister did not propose a single plan for job creation in the budget,” Mr. Priyank said.
