BJP leaders slam Congress over ‘unfulfilled’ promises in party-ruled states

PTI, Nov 12, 2024, 3:58 PM IST

Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday led BJP leaders from Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka in attacking the grand old party over its alleged failure to deliver on its poll promises in these states.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Thakur alleged that the Congress’s history was littered with broken promises and the people of Himachal Pradesh were paying a price by voting it to power.

He urged the people of Maharashtra to vote for the Mahayuti in the November 20 assembly polls if they wanted better governance.

He claimed Congress made a “laundry list of guarantees” during the election but left people disappointed months after coming to power.

The BJP leader said the Congress had promised subsidised electricity, financial aid for women, affordable milk, and employment but failed to deliver on these fronts.

He said the party had promised 300 units of free electricity but imposed a cess on electricity consumption instead and reversed the BJP’s scheme of 125 units of free power.

The party’s promise of a monthly stipend of Rs 1,500 for women remained unfulfilled, and so did its assurance of creating five lakh jobs for the youth of Himachal.

Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy claimed the southern state’s finances are in a dire state, with the Congress government failing to implement key promises, including a Rs 2 lakh crop loan waiver for farmers, which 40 per cent of the cultivators had not received.

He also criticised the Congress for its alleged failure to provide the promised financial assistance to women under the Mahalaxmi scheme, noting that not a single woman had received the monthly aid of Rs 2,000.

Reddy alleged that Telangana had become the Congress government’s ATM, and the party was siphoning off the state’s money to fund elections across the country, including Maharashtra.

He said the party had made six major guarantees, but after almost a year, 99 per cent of them remain unfulfilled.

Echoing similar concerns, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje said Karnataka’s debt had skyrocketed to Rs 82,000 crore in just 18 months since the Congress came to power.

She said free transportation for women, one of Congress’s major poll promises, was a major contributor to the state’s financial woes, alleging that the scheme caused a loss of around Rs 100 crore every month to the state’s transport services and the government was forced to suspend bus operations due to a lack of funds for fuel, maintenance, and staff salaries.

Karandlaje also criticised the government’s mismanagement of the Gruhalaxmi scheme providing Rs 2,000 per month to every eligible woman in the state.

She said due to a fund shortage, the government had reduced the benefit to only one woman per household and withheld payments for June and July.

The Union Minister raised concerns about the diversion of funds meant for the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities, which were repurposed to meet other financial commitments.

She warned that Maharashtra could face similar issues if the Congress alliance comes to power in the state.

“Maharashtra, with its strong economy, must be cautious about the track record of the Congress-led governments in Karnataka and Telangana,” she said.