Two Cong CMs & K’taka Dy CM criticise BJP’s ‘fake propaganda’ in Maha polls

Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, Nov 9 (IANS) In a political tit-for-tat, two Congress Chief Ministers and a Deputy Chief Minister have put a spirited defence for their party’s guarantees and implementation in their respective states to counter the ‘fake claims’ of the ruling MahaYuti and BJP in Maharashtra. 

Leading the charge were Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Sukhu, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Deputy CM of Karnataka D. K. Shivakumar, along with AICC Media & Publicity Chairman Pawan Khera, who took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for propagating “lies and falsehoods”.

The development came days after BJP’s Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis launched a direct attack on Congress’ Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over the red copy of the Constitution and alleged links with the ‘Urban Naxals’ that sparked a furore in the Opposition parties.

Sukhu, Reddy, and Shivakumar made detailed presentations on the guarantees and schemes they have already executed in their respective states, the kind of impact these are having on the people along with supporting data.

Shivakumar said that Congress’ Six Guarantees did not come overnight but after a careful study of the peoples’ problems during Rahul Gandhi’s two-phased Bharat Jodo Yatras covering South-North and East-West routes two years ago.

“As soon as we came to power, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah started immediately rolling out the promised guarantees. 1.22 crore women are getting Rs 2,000/month under the Grihalakshmi Scheme, 1.64 crore families are getting the benefits of 200 units of free electricity through the Gruha Jyothi Scheme and 4.08 crore falling Below Poverty Line (BPL) are getting 10 kg free rice under the ‘Annabhagya Scheme. Another 3.20 crore women travelled free on State Transport buses vide the Shakti Scheme, and the Yuva Nidhi Scheme has extended Rs 3000/month to over five-lakh students,” said Shivakumar.

He said all the schemes were implemented within 60 days after taking power and a provision of Rs 52,000 crore has been made from Karnataka’s budget of Rs 365 thousand-crore, which is higher than many BJP-ruled states.

Sukhu said even Himachal Pradesh faced the BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ but after the Congress assured power, it started implementing all the Guarantees, including Old Pension Scheme, MSP of Rs 30/k for maize, Rs 40/kg for wheat, Rs 45/Litres for cow milk and Rs 5/litre for buffalo milk.

“Those people who were getting Rs 5,000 aid are not getting Rs 50,000, all people above the age of 58 get Rs 1,500/month aid, girls over 18 years get Rs 1,500/month and those pursuing higher education including medical or doctorates get financial assistance as needed, for which the government has increased the revenue sources,” said Sukhu.

Reddy said that in Telangana, the Congress guarantee of farm loan waiver upto Rs 2 lakh was given benefitting 22 lakh peasants, and 50,000 government jobs have been given in the past 10 months to youth in the state.

He added that besides, free bus travel under the Mahalaxmi Scheme has been launched for women for which the government has spent Rs 3,400 crore and provided for Rs 4,000 crore per year for the next five years, 59 lakh poor families are getting cooking gas cylinders at Rs 500, over 50 lakh families get 200 units of free electricity every month.

The trio said that the BJP has nothing to compare with all this so they are carrying out a fake campaign against the Congress, particularly in Maharashtra which is going for elections on November 20.

The two Chief Ministers and one Deputy Chief Minister accused PM Modi of resorting to blatant falsehoods, and Reddy recalled how Modi had once tweeted that Telangana did not give a farm loan write-off, but when he sent him the loan waiver report, the PM deleted the tweet.

Shivakumar gave an open challenge to the BJP leaders that he would arrange special flights and buses for them to visit Karnataka, travel to any of the 33 districts and get first-hand the people’s response to the Congress guarantees to satisfy themselves instead of indulging in falsehoods.

Sukhu, Reddy and Shivakumar called upon the people of Maharashtra to bring back the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (SP)-Shiv Sena (UBT) to power as they will work for the people and progress of the state.

They also slammed Modi for writing off nearly Rs 12-Lakhs-crore loans of rich industrialists, but taking objections when the Congress governments are utilizing the peoples’ money for public welfare schemes via the Guarantees.

The three dignitaries were joined by Khera, Mahila Congress President Alka Lamba, AICC Secretary B. M. Sandeep, U. B. Venkatesh, state Mahila Congress chief Sandhya Savvalakhe, Charanjit Singh Sapra and other senior leaders.

Khera on Friday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India on the media blitzkrieg unleashed by the BJP to defame the Congress ahead of the crucial Maharashtra elections.

The MVA’s ‘5 guarantees’ were unveiled here at a mega-rally on November 6 in the presence of bigwigs of the three allies while formally launching the alliance’s campaign for the November 20 elections.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: [email protected])