Confident of winning 15-20 seats in LS polls, says Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Dismissing assumptions made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, Karnataka Chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said that the guarantee schemes have been successfully implemented and will continue to benefit people across the state.

With the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) still on for the Lok Sabha polls, the state government did not organise any official programmes to mark the completion of its first year after the Karnataka Assembly Elections.

Speaking at a conference held at the Press Club of Bangalore, Siddaramaiah said that the five guarantee schemes- Shakti, Anna Bhagya, Gruha Jyothi, Gruha Lakshmi and Yuva Nidhi, have benefited more than 4.6 crore people across the state.

Asked about the claims made by BJP and JD(S) leaders that the Congress government had emptied the state treasury, he lashed out at the opposition saying that they do not understand the economy.

"We have spent money on the five guarantees without sacrificing developmental programmes," he said, reeling out facts and figures and pointing out that the government has spent Rs 56,274 crore on developmental programmes as against the budget allocation of Rs 54,374 crore, which is a significant jump.

Further he said, "We allocated Rs 16,360 crore for irrigation during the budget, but we spent Rs 18,198 crore on it. Further we also spent Rs 9,661 crore on the Public Works Department. How could we spend so much if the treasury had gone empty? These allegations are false and baseless," he said.

State has Muslim reservation since 30 years

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 'falsely' accusing the Congress government of granting reservation benefits to Muslims by snatching from the Backward Classes, the CM informed the Prime Minister that reservation for Muslims is being implemented in the state since the last 30 years as recommended by the Chinnappa Reddy Commission and even when BJP was in power in the state, this reservation continued through 'the backdoor.'

Siddaramaiah further challenged PM Modi to explain why the other BJP ruled states have not implemented the SC/ST Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan Act, which was done by the Congress government to ensure allocation of works up to Rs 1 crore by allocating to SC/ ST contractors and ensuring reservation for Backward Classes.

"After being blessed with a majority, we did not sit idle even for a second and within just nine months ensured that every one of our five guarantees were implemented. Even the Centre refusing us rice for Anna Bhagya did not deter us and we deposited money equivalent to 5 kg of rice for beneficiaries and ensured we delivered as promised," he claimed.

As many as 223 taluks of the state were hit by drought and even when the Centre delayed our legally owed funds under disaster relief, the guarantees ensured people had a social security net, Siddaramaiah said.

Asked about the need for a caste census, Siddaramaiah pointed out, "If we don't take up a caste census, how will we know the socio-economic status of people? We got independence more than 76 years ago and many things have changed. We need to know. That is why we need a caste census," he said..

Plans to curb corruption

"Corruption is like a disease in society and I'm not saying that it has stopped after our government came to power in the state. But we are taking necessary measures to control it," Siddaramaiah said responding to another question. He predicted the Congress will get between 15 and 20 Lok Sabha seats.