Kharge lures Hyd-K’taka voters with 10-point charter

NT Correspondent

Kalaburagi: Doubling down on its bid to woo voters of HyderabadKarnataka in the upcoming Assembly electios, the Congress party has announced a 10-point charter for the development of the region thatis considered neglected. All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge announced this at the party’s mega show in Kalaburagi city dubbed “Kalyan Kranti” on Saturday.

Among the promises made by Kharge were the “full implementation of provisions of article 371J,” which was obtained for the region in 2013. Article 371J refers to the constitutional amendment that sought to empower the Governor of Karnataka to take steps to develop the HyderabadKarnataka region, which includes Kalaburagi, Bidar, Raichur, Koppal, Yadgir and Ballari.

The Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Rajya Sabha also promised Rs 5,000 crore per year for the region, filling 50,000 vacant government jobs, creation of 1,00,000 jobs in the private sector, bringing institutes of national renown such as All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) to the Hyderabad-Kar nataka region.

Other promises include, “Complete pending projects of ‘Krishna Basin’ and ‘Godavari Basin’ in Kalyan Karnataka Region within 24 months of formation of Congress Government.” Kharge also promised a house for each family, health care facilities including setting up of ‘mother and child specialty hospital’ in each of the 41 Assembly constituencies of the region and setting women’s colleges in the same that constituted a part of Congress’ education policy for the region.

Kharge fell back on the same old Congress retort that the erstwhile BJP administration at the Centre (99-2004) led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and cabinet minister LK Advani had rejected the bid for Hyderabad-Karnataka to be granted special status under article 371 J, adding that it was United Pro g ressive Alliance (UPA) 2 that had delivered the same in 2013.

“When I was an MLA, Sonia Gandhi had asked me to contest parliamentary polls and had promised to make me a union minister. I’d said that I had just become an MLA and did not want to contest another election. Then she said that she had confidence in me and that I should contest. Then, when the Congress government came to power, I had negotiated and said that I would contest if special status was granted to Hyderabad-Karnataka under ar ticle 371J,” Kharge said.