Kharge spoke on how his government intends to distinguish between criticism and misinformation, and how 'guarantees' ensure grassroots economic stability.
Priyank Kharge taking oath as minister in Siddaramaiah Cabinet in May, 2023. (File Photo)
Two months after the Congress registered a landslide victory in Karnataka, the newly-formed government has big challenges ahead of it. From delivering on the five big social welfare schemes packaged as “poll guarantees”, to dealing with financial constraints, to unrest among MLAs in the ruling party, and addressing constant attempts to communalise issues, the Siddaramaiah-led government is faced with social, financial and political challenges.
In an interview to South First, Priyank Kharge, Karnataka’s Information Technology/Biotechnology (IT/BT) and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (RDPR) minister, who also heads the Congress’ Communication Cell in the state, speaks on how his government intends to address concerns. Edited excerpts.
Q. You head IT/BT and RDPR — two ministries that seem poles apart. Do they converge?
A. A lot of people have this perception that one is completely rural and another is completely urban, but a closer look will tell you there’s a lot of synergy. Most of our panchayat works are digitised. Every application we receive is online, works are monitored online, more than 100 citizen services are distributed at the panchayat level online.
Karnataka is the only state in the country that has a very robust system like “Panchatantra” where even the reporting structure is online. We are coming up with “Panchatantra 2”, which will ensure greater accountability, transparency and have a more citizen-friendly user interface. So there is a lot of synergy and there can be a lot more convergence. Your circular economy is entirely rural but has a great impact on the urban sector. We are coming up with a “rural economy laboratory” soon. Our focus for the next couple of years will be on that.
Q. Successive governments have framed policies to incentivise investments beyond Bengaluru but there haven’t been many takers. Does it help to head these two ministries in addressing that problem?
A. We have great incentives, subsidies for investment beyond Bengaluru. The more jobs you create and higher investments you get, the more subsidies you get. If you are going beyond Bengaluru to Tier 2 towns and cities and rural areas, we give special subsidies and incentives. In fact, we are also working on a regional cluster. Just because I am the IT minister and am from Kalaburagi, I cannot just make an IT park there. It’s just going to be a ghost town. . So, I have to analyse my region’s needs and what we are good at. We are good at cheap labour, huge tracts of affordable land, and great connectivity. We need to play to the region’s strength and the human resources available.
Priyank Kharge on development of Karnataka cities.
We have formed the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission that has been given the sole responsibility to figure out what skills-sets are required beyond Bengaluru, regional aspirations in that area, how clusters can be strengthened in vertical-specific industries. Belagavi has good potential for aerospace. Kalaburagi can have small manufacturing units. Mangaluru has great potential for animation and IT services sector. Perhaps biotechnology can be pushed a little outside Bengaluru. Kolar is already emerging as a manufacturing hub.
Have I portrayed the regions or the clusters’ strengths to investors, to the industries? That has not happened as desired and whether it is Industry Minister MB Patil or me or Dr Sharan Prakash who is in charge of the skill development, we are working together in trying to identify these gaps. We see a huge skill gap in these regions. Our primary focus will be to fix these skill gaps. Once human resources are there, investments will come. Telangana. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh give land, power, water subsidies, like we do, but ultimately, what is the benefit that Karnataka can give? Great human resource. See, ultimately, you’re asking them to part with their money. Nobody is just going to do it just because the government is asking them to; you have to convince them and that requires consistent effort and that’s what the three ministries are going to do.
Q. When it comes to services, Hyderabad is Bengaluru’s primary competition. Do you think Hyderabad is a real rival? Because Telangana IT minister K T Rama Rao sees it as one.
Priyank Kharge on comparison of Bengaluru with Hyderabad.
A. He has to emulate us, but I don’t think they’re anywhere close to doing that. They might be growing at a rapid pace, and so are we; but if my numbers are right, they have more than $200 billion to catch up with. It’s not easy. My numbers might not be right, but I think we are growing at around 37 percent year-on-year and they might be going at 28 percent, subject to correction.
We have an ecosystem that we have built over three decades and they cannot undo that in just a decade. They are playing catch-up, but if you see the data, it’s a very wide gap. They are our closest competition in services, I’m not denying it, but they have a lot of catching up to do.
Q. You have said the BJP’s ideology has cost Karnataka investments. But how do you see the role of the previous BJP government in the state or even the Narendra Modi-led Union government in bringing big ticket investments like Foxconn or AMD?
A. The problem is that whenever I speak facts, the Opposition party thinks I’m trolling them. My questions are simple. Where did Apple invest first in India? In Bengaluru. We had the first-mover’s advantage. How did that partial ecosystem shift to other states? Why did it shift? Why weren’t you engaging with their OEMs? OLA — probably the biggest two-wheeler EV manufacturing company in the world. Where did they originate from? They were the pride of our state, right? They were one of the first unicorns to have come from Bengaluru. Why didn’t they invest in Bengaluru and choose to invest right outside our state? They have the world’s biggest two-wheeler EV manufacturing plant where they have 10,000 women employees. Why did they shift out of Karnataka? What were the incentives that they asked that you could not match?
Priyank Kharge on jobs in Bengaluru
It hurts when a Bengaluru-based, Bengaluru-bred company goes outside the state. How many jobs am I losing? Why am I losing investment? How should I feel as a citizen of the state, when my neighboring state’s IT minister says, “Please pack your bags and come to my state. I will give you a better physical and social infrastructure”? Now, I just want my friends in the Opposition party to understand: I know the meaning of physical infrastructure, but please explain to me social infrastructure. What did he mean by that? Why were people not interested in coming to the state then? Why did another neighboring state’s finance minister say, “We are observing the social churning in the state and if any investor wants to come to my home state, I will roll out the red carpet”? Why was this happening?
We were fiercely competitive. We will compete against Maharashtra, Gujarat. We are not afraid of competition, but why did my neighboring states make such comments openly about Karnataka? What did they mean by social infrastructure? Who is going to get hurt? If there is no investment, there are no jobs, if there are no jobs, there’s no standard of living and if the living standards are going to go down, how will Karnataka be a progressive state? Tell me if I’m wrong in asking these questions?
Have you ever heard any Kannadiga say I am going to Uttar Pradesh for a job? I will show you how many people from UP and Madhya Pradesh are there in Karnataka. They come here because of the ecosystem. The Hindi heartland thinks that they can come to South India and earn a livelihood. Nobody from the South thinks they can go to the Hindi heartland and earn a livelihood because of the social infrastructure.
We are here to give good physical and social infrastructure for our people to thrive, for our people to prosper, for the state to prosper. If the state prospers, the country is going to prosper. As simple as that.
Q. But the BJP would like you to give credit to Narendra Modi and his government’s policies for AMD announcing investments.
A. It’s great. They’re validating what I’m saying. They’re validating it to the prime minister, to the Gujarat ecosystem and the Indian ecosystem that Karnataka is the best place for investment. I’m okay with that. As long as they’re coming here, registering their company here and paying their taxes here, my people are getting employed, it benefits India too.
Q. There seems to be a rise in trend of communalising issues in Karnataka. Has the government taken note of it? Is there a plan to address it?
Priyank Kharge, IT/BT & RDPR minister, Karnataka, In Conversation with South First.
A. Definitely. People have given us a fabulous mandate and that fabulous mandate is for the prosperity of the state, for employment, for peace and harmony, and to safeguard the Constitution — and we will do just that. In the last month-and-a-half, they have been trying to make issues out of non-issues. That’s the way they operate. It’s a standard operating procedure of the BJP where they want to create confusion and chaos in society. Whom is it hurting? Isn’t it hurting their own children? By causing unrest in the society, you think only common people and Congress will suffer? Are BJP persons not a part of the society that we live in? They need to understand that people have rejected them because of this ideology. People have rejected these ideas that are not progressive that do not help them earn two square meals a day. The sooner they understand, the better for their own party, and better for the country.
The chief minister has mandated the home minister and me — because a lot of these things happen on social media which comes under the IT ACT, whereas the offline part of it has to be taken care of the Home Department — to come up with a fact-check unit. We are not hiding it. BJP should be worried if we come up with a fake news unit where we are manufacturing fake news like them and putting it out. We are coming up with a fact-check unit that will flag any disinformation, misinformation, fake news that creates unrest in the society or spreads wrong information about the government. We are going to fact-check and put it in front of the people.
If there is any criminal intent, malicious intent to it, then law will deal with it. We are not going to do things as they are done in Gujarat or Assam, where they overnight pick up people. We are saying that any information that you have should adhere to the public policy of the social media platform you’re using and should adhere to the laws of the land. That’s all. Why does BJP have a problem with that?
Q. But a similar move by the Union government was met with opposition, including by the Congress, which expressed concerns that this could be a way to crack down on dissent. This could be a way to crack down on criticism.
A. There is a difference between what the Union central government’s intention is and our intention is. We are not saying you cannot criticise the government. Any constructive criticism is welcome. You want to criticise Chief Minister of Karnataka? Yes, you have the right. You want to say, “Priyank Kharge is not doing a great job as IT minister, he should be fired”, you’re not breaking any law. But if you are going to say things that will create disharmony, pandemonium in the society, then you are breaking the law. That’s all we are fact-checking.
If I have a problem with anybody saying something ill about me, it’s up to me to file a defamation case. That is not what we are checking. We are checking in the interest of the society as per the law, as per the Constitution. The Union government has a history of doing what you suggested. Look at the Bhima-Koregaon case. They’re just picking up people based on some random emails. We are not here to target the Opposition. We are here to safeguard the peace of the state.
Q. Did Congress bite off more than it could chew with guarantees? You have to agree that this is Siddaramaiah’s first revenue deficit budget and all sectors have seen reduced allocation.
A. The chief minister has been very candid and vocal about this. On the floor of the house he’s explained why this is a revenue deficit budget — the first out of his 14 budgets. I think the majority of the blame lies with the previous government’s handling of GST dues that were to come to us from the central government, and there is also the five guarantees.
Yes, every department had to take a slight hit, but there’s unutilised funds from the previous fiscal year, which makes up about 6.5 percent of budget size in RDPR. The chief minister is very clear that we utilise those funds and more will be allocated if need be. We have ensured no district or taluk suffers because of the drought and have given more than enough allocation for the rural water supply.
We need to see these five guarantees as a greater good. It’s something like the Universal Basic Income. It saves money for the household. Please see what data suggests post-Covid-19. Why do you think the Narendra Modi government is not giving you data? Where is the census? They don’t want to do the census because then facts will tumble out and the entire “Modinomics” will fall like a house of cards. Due to Covid-19, people have lost incomes and many have fallen below the poverty line (BPL).
The idea of the chief minister is to ensure that we pull more people out of BPL. All the five guarantees ensure your household performs better economically. This is to bring in economic stability at the grassroots level. With Gruha Jyothi, you’re saving money on electricity; Shakti helps you save money on travel; Gruha Lakshmi helps you save on your household incomes; Yuva Nidhi ensures the young of Karnataka are not going to be a burden on the family while looking for a job. Anna Bhagya helps achieve better nutritional levels. and ensures nobody is going to sleep hungry in the state.
This will bring economic stability to the house, which is very important. Where do you think this saved money will go? Am I just going to stow it away? No, I’m going to spend it. To buy things, to upgrade my child’s education. It’s coming back to the state’s coffer in one way or the other. Some 55 lakh women are traveling free every day under the Shakti scheme. They’re going to temples, local heritage places. They are donating money at temples. They’re visiting tourist destinations. They are paying for tickets, spending on snacks. It is coming back to the government.
The problem with the BJP is that they know only how to take and not how to give. They don’t understand the economics of giving stability at the household level. So whether it is demonetisation or whether it is Karnataka’s economic policy, they have been a disaster. That’s why people have voted for us.
Q. The financial constraints of the state seems to be troubling your party too. Your MLAs are miffed with ministers. Do you worry about political instability despite the huge numbers you have?
A. The mandate is very huge, unlike before when it was only a balancing act. We are stable and I don’t think BJP or JD(S) is going to try anything funny here because they themselves don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t have a Leader of Opposition. Who is going to lead them? Show me one leader in the Opposition who has clout throughout the state or who can claim to be a community leader who can get at least that vote? Not a single one. People have shown them for the way they treated BS Yediyurappa. I don’t see any leader emerging as a mass leader in the next decade in the BJP or the JD(S). I don’t see another “Operation Lotus” happening.
It has just been two months, of which one full month went into budget and another 15 days into Cabinet formation. Aspirations are high. People have voted and now ask MLAs for roads, community halls, water supply to be upgraded, etc. It’s quite natural. It has been just a week since the budget was passed. Now the funds will flow into departments and development works will begin in the respective MLAs’ constituencies. There is no dissidence as media is putting it. There is nothing wrong with MLAs writing to the chief minister. Unlike the BJP, we have internal democracy. It’s been almost two months, the budget session is over, Governor’s speech is over, still they don’t have an Opposition leader.
Q. Is the government under pressure to deliver on the guarantees because you want to set an example as the party heads into elections in other states, as if you want to be a model state of the Congress?
A. We have always been a model state for the Congress and for the nation. You look at our policies and, more importantly, it has nothing to do with show-and-tell or one-upmanship within the party hierarchy or anything. We have always delivered on promises, whether it is Mallikarjun Kharge as AICC president or Rahul Gandhi or Siddaramaiah or DK Shivakumar or the party itself. That’s why we call ourselves “nudidante nadeyuva sarkara“. For example, we had made 165 promises in our manifesto for the 2013 polls. We delivered on 159 of them. The BJP, on the other hand, made 610 promises in 2018 and they could fulfill only 59. This is not my claim, but BJP’s internal report. So, you see the difference. We are accountable to the people. We believe that it is our prime responsibility to deliver what we promise.
Q. Does it pay or pain to be the son of AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge?
A. It’s a bit of both. What he has achieved is something I cannot. What he’s doing right now, at his age, traversing across the entire country, trying to fight for the Constitution, to get the Congress talking to the Opposition, getting everybody together in these hostile circumstances, is something I think everybody is extremely proud of.
I am, as a Congressman and his son. It has its pros and cons like any other thing. There will be comparisons. How will Sachin Tendulkar’s son break his record? That’s the problem with the any second generation, but having said that people should realise that ultimately, people are the ones who are choosing. Just because your XYZ’s son, they may give you one chance. We see so many tall leaders’ children fall by the wayside because they’re not with the people. Nobody can deny that there will be a springboard but, ultimately, people decide.
Q. You accused the previous government of corruption but the allegation against your government is that transfers have become the mode of corruption. You had levelled allegations of corruption in KKRDB, but an officer who headed a department there is now in your personal secretariat.
A. I accused the board and the then government of corruption, but I did not make personal accusations on any officer. If there is any officer who is involved, who happens to be in my department, if his guilt is proven, he’s going to face the music. There is no doubt about that. There’s no compromise on that.
Secondly, when we were in the Opposition we put forth documents in the public domain for the media and made allegations. There was no hit-and-run like what the Opposition is doing now. They’re just showing a pen drive claiming transfers are being done arbitrarily. Show proof like we did. We showed you where the loopholes are. We showed you where the corruption was. On the floor of the House, for every scam that I exposed — whether PSI scam, the borewell scam, the Bitcoin scam — the Opposition kept warning me that I should tread carefully and claimed Congress leaders will get into trouble if an investigation was ordered.
If Congress people were getting into trouble, why didn’t they investigate? These very people claim they are honest and not corrupt and said they aren’t afraid of investigation. Now we have ordered a judicial inquiry and they are deeming it “political vendetta”. They should, in fact, welcome this move as a means to prove their innocence, as claimed.
Q. After a month in office, you voluntarily put up a report card of sorts. Do you intend to continue doing this?
A. The new one is coming up in a couple of days for you to keep a tab on. The point is, I’m trying to be as transparent and as accountable to the people as possible. That’s why the report card. I hope that people will appreciate it. And, of course, constructive criticism is always welcome. It helps me be a better politician and it helps the policies and, ultimately, it helps the people.
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