He said the BJP is also anti-humanity, as it denied supply of rice to Karnataka to supply an additional five kg of rice under"Anna Bhagya".
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah calls BJP 'neech'. (Siddaramaiah/ X)
Accusing the Union government of being anti-poor and pro-capitalist, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday, 6 September, asked people to ensure that not a single vote goes to the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year.
Calling the BJP neech (despicable), he said the ruling party at the Centre is also anti-humanity, as it denied supply of rice to Karnataka to provide an additional five kg of rice to each beneficiary under the “Anna Bhagya” scheme of the state government.
“When I was the chief minister during my previous tenure, I had given seven kg rice free, but the previous BJP government reduced it to four kg and five kg. During the Assembly election, I promised that we will give an additional five kg more,” Siddaramaiah said during a ceremony to celebrate the completion of 10 years of the “Ksheera Bhagya” scheme (under which students of government and aided schools are given milk five days a week) at Madhugiri in Tumakuru district of Karnataka.
The chief minister said that when the Congress government came to power, it wrote to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to supply rice for the Anna Bhagya scheme. The FCI too assured the state government that it would provide the rice, he said.
“We trusted them (FCI), but the Centre denied us rice. Is BJP pro-poor? They are not. We did not ask rice for free. We were ready to pay for it. When we asked for rice, they agreed and then backtracked. You have to decide how ‘neech’ (despicable) they are. They are anti-poor. They don’t have humanity,” Siddaramaiah charged.
Explaining the reason behind the Centre backtracking from supplying rice to Karnataka, the chief minister said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that if free rice is given to the poor people, those states will go bankrupt. We told him that we will implement the five guarantees, and we will not let the state go bankrupt.”
The chief minister also explained that out of the five poll guarantees, four have been implemented in the state. They are: “Shakti” offering free bus rides to women in non-luxury government buses, “Gruha Lakshmi” providing ₹2,000 to the women head of families, “Gruha Jyothi” promising up to 200 units of free electricity to each household, and “Anna Bhagya” offering 10 kg rice to BPL families.
Explaining the five guarantees, Siddaramaiah asked people if they would vote for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
“Not a single vote should go to them (BJP) because they had said these schemes will make the state bankrupt. If we give freebies to the poor, then the state will go bankrupt? What if the money is given to Ambani and Adani? Will the country or poor prosper?” he sought to know.
Siddaramaiah stressed that while Ambani and Adani grew rich, the poor remained poor.
Celebrating the completion of 10 years of the “Ksheera Bhagya” scheme offering milk to 54.68 lakh government school children everyday, the chief minister said it is an internationally acclaimed scheme.
According to him, milk is a complete food with maximum calcium, and people of every age can drink it.
Hence, the government decided to purchase milk from milk producers and give it to the children, he said.
Lauding “Ksheera Bhagya”, Siddaramaiah said the state government will spend more than ₹1,000 crore on the scheme.
ಇಂದು ಕ್ಷೀರಭಾಗ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ದಶಮಾನೋತ್ಸವದ ಸಂಭ್ರಮ. ಕೆನೆಭರಿತ ಹಾಲು ವಿತರಿಸುವ ಮೂಲಕ ಕಲಿಕೆಯ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಶಾಲೆಗಳನ್ನು ಪೋಷಣೆಯ ಕೇಂದ್ರಗಳಾಗಿಸಿದ್ದು ನಮ್ಮ ಕ್ಷೀರಭಾಗ್ಯ ಯೋಜನೆ.
ಹಲವು ಬಾರಿ ಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ಮಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಶ್ಲಾಘನೆಗೆ ಪಾತ್ರವಾದದ್ದು ಯೋಜನೆಯ ಯಶಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ಹಿಡಿದ ಕನ್ನಡಿಯಾಗಿದೆ.#ಕ್ಷೀರಭಾಗ್ಯ pic.twitter.com/yAzuHQiIye
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) September 6, 2023
(Disclaimer: The headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed, and has been edited for style.)
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