Siddu-DKS-led Congress preps for Lok Sabha polls

Umar Sharieef |NT

Bengaluru: With the Congress launching the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, the fourth of the five poll promises it made before the assembly election, marking the hundred days of its rule in the state, it appears that the party has unofficially started preparing for the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

DK Shivakumar, the deputy chief minister of the state, earlier in August said that the government had no funds to implement the schemes.

However, he made a U-turn a few days later and said that Karnataka is a very strong state and that the party has made a plan and will implement the schemes.

He said, “It is the land of the Basavanna, we are going to implement whatever we said. Our CM has presented a budget and every financial aspect has been kept ready”.

Interestingly, DKS, who always responds to the queries of the media, has repeatedly flagged concern about the politics behind the implementation of the National Education Policy by the BJP in Karnataka in 2020.

He added that the Congress party will replace it with the state education policy. While Shivakumar's focus is on state-related issues, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on the other hand, has begun to taunt the BJP with central issues.

On August 31, a day after the Congress party in Karnataka launched the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, Siddaramaiah taunted Modi, where he thanked him for reducing the LPG price by 200, which Siddaramaiah said, was an inspiration from the popular plans of Congress.

Taking to Twitter, the CM said, “I sincerely hope that our commitment to live up to our word will be an inspiration to you and that people will benefit from it”.

His tweet came hours before the INDIA alliance met in Mumbai on Thursday. Meanwhile, DKS's visit to Delhi amid the state farmer’s overnight protest against the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu assumes significance.

A Congress spokesperson, seeking anonymity, told News Trail that the government will decide on the controversial issue and will not leave any stones unturned from focusing it on the LS election.

Political analysts said the controversial Cauvery issue at the time of the LS election will emerge as a burden for the Congress in Karnataka and DMK in Tamil Nadu, as any decisions that might disturb farmers of both states would become a plus point for the BJP in both the states.