Karnataka grew at 8% under Congress rule: Chidambaram
Bengaluru, May 8: Betting on the Congress to win the May 12 Karnataka Assembly polls, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday said the state grew at 8 percent of the Gross Sate Domestic Product (GSDP) during the last five years of its rule.
"Karnataka's GSDP under the five-year stable Congress rule increased 8 percent annually to Rs 9,49,111 crore in fiscal 2017-18 from Rs 6,43,292 crore in fiscal 2013-14 at constant prices," Chidambaram told reporters here ahead of the crucial poll on Saturday.
Asserting that an average citizen in the state was richer than five years ago, he said the per capita income had shot up 125 per cent to Rs 1,74,551 from Rs 77,309 in 2013 as against the all-India growth of 59 per cent.
"The state has an enviable macro-economic record with average 2.26 percent fiscal deficit while the average revenue surplus was 0.08 per cent."
Unemployment in the state is also lowest among the states at 2.6 percent as against 5.9 per cent at the national level.
Lauding Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for completing a full tenure, the first in 40 years since D. Devaraj Urs in the late seventies, Chidambaram said development and welfare had gone together as evident from 40 per cent spending on the social sector.
"In contrast, the BJP gave the people during its 5-year tenure (2008-13) a weak and unstable government with three chief ministers," he said.
Cautioning the people against voting for the BJP, the former minister said the same incompetent men and women were leading its poll campaign this time.
"No one has forgotten the sad spectacle of 2008-2013. The people gave 110 seats to the BJP. What did they get in return? It was perhaps the worst government in the state's history."
On the twin challenges before the next government, Chidambaram said the first was to maintain the growth momentum and the other was to confront the design of the RSS-BJP set up which was out to wreck the federal system, weaken states and impose its agenda of one history, one culture, one religion, one language and one code of behaviour.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
