Karnataka JD(S) chief Kumaraswamy hits out at CM Siddaramaiah for making tall promises in Telangana

Related: Congress win in Telangana is certain, says Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

On vacancies and electricity

“The ‘duplicate chief minister’ said in Telangana that they have been giving five hours of power daily to the farmers in Karnataka and the 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-hour power to farmers,” Kumaraswamy claimed.

He added that 2.5 lakh job posts were lying vacant in Karnataka but Siddaramaiah and his deputy promised in Telangana that 2 lakh posts would be filled there if the Congress came to power.

The JD(S) state chief claimed that these job 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 28-30 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 chief minister said the shortage of buses and staff made him bow his head in shame.

Speaking about the status of the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, which offers ₹2,000 to women heads of families having BPL/APL ration cards, Kumaraswamy said the Congress was promising ₹4,000 to women heads of families in Telangana.

“Why you did not give ₹4,000 to the women head of the family here? They (the 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 Karnataka, where the Gruha Jyothi scheme is offering 200 units of free electricity, Kumaraswamy claimed that there were frequent power cuts 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 the Gruha Jyothi scheme. Mahadevappa and Kaka Patil, who were promised 200 units of free power are now living in the dark. There are many police stations which are operating in dark,” alleged the JD(S) leader.

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Siddaramaiah’s promises

Addressing an election campaign rally in the Kamareddy Assembly constituency in Telangana on 10 November, where TPCC president A Revanth Reddy is locked in an electoral battle with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Siddaramaiah said the Congress would implement the six guarantees made to the voters in Telangana like he has been doing in Karnataka.

Referring to the opposition campaign claims that the Congress was not implementing the guarantees in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said, “I call upon him (KCR) to visit Karnataka and I will sit with him to show what has been implemented and how much money has been released.”

He also assured the crowd that the Congress would fulfil the six guarantees once it came to power in Telangana.

“I want to say that the Congress coming to power in Telangana in this election is as certain as the sun rising in the East,” said the Karnataka chief minister.

(With PTI inputs)