Kumaraswamy hits out at Congress CM Siddaramaiah for making tall promises in Telangana

PTI, Nov 12, 2023, 3:44 PM IST

JD(S) Karnataka President H D Kumaraswamy hit out at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for allegedly failing to implement key poll guarantees in the state, and yet making tall promises in poll-bound Telangana.

Kumaraswamy was referring to Siddaramaiah and the Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s election campaign in Telangana.

Addressing reporters here, the former chief minister said, ”Temporary Chief Minister” Siddaramaiah and ”Duplicate Chief Minister” D K Shivakumar became a laughing stock for promising five hours of power to the farmers there, when they already receive 24-hour power supply.

“The ‘Duplicate Chief Minister’ said in Telangana that they have been giving five hours power daily to the farmers in Karnataka and same would be given to the farmers there if Congress is voted to power. They became a laughing stock because the Telangana government is already giving 24 hours power to farmers,” Kumaraswamy claimed.

He added that 2.5 lakh posts are lying vacant in Karnataka but Siddaramaiah and his deputy promised in Telangana that two lakh posts will be filled.

The JD(S) state chief claimed that these vacancies were the backlog from Siddaramaiah’s previous tenure as chief minister from 2013 to 2018.

Stating that he was speaking from his personal experience, Kumaraswamy claimed, “I recently had a KDP (Karnataka Development Programme) meeting in my constituency. In place of 28 to 30 agriculture officers and personnel needed in just one taluk office, there were three people running the show. This is the situation in just one taluk.

With regard to the Shakti scheme offering free rides to Karnataka women in non-AC government buses, the former CM said the shortage of buses and staff makes him lower his head.

Speaking about the status of the ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme offering Rs 2,000 to women heads of families having BPL/APL ration card, Kumaraswamy said the Congress is promising Rs 4,000 to women heads of families in Telangana.

“Why you did not give Rs 4,000 to women head of the family here? They (Congress) are expanding the scheme across the country. (Yet) they have not given even a single rupee to the 10 lakh (eligible) families, stating that computer server has crashed,” he alleged.

Coming to the power scenario in the state where Gruha Jyothi scheme is offering 200 units of free electricity, Kumaraswamy claimed that there is frequent load shedding and that the Congress itself had to hold a public meeting using a mobile phone torch in a certain part of the state.

”This is the state of Gruha Jyothi scheme. Mahadevappa and Kaka Patil who were promised 200 units free power are now living in the dark. There are many police stations which are operating in dark,” the JD(S) state chief alleged.