Cong gains power by fake guarantees to turn states into 'ATM of one family': Minister Chandrasekhar
Bhopal (PTI): Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday claimed the Congress comes to power by making fake guarantees and turning states into the "ATM of one family".
Addressing a press conference here in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, he alleged the Congress has nothing to do with public welfare but wants to get power through fake guarantees and by misleading people, as evident in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.
"Everyone knows about the Congress and corruption as witnessed during the UPA government. Within four months of the Congress government in Karnataka, Rs 109 crore were found in the house of a contractor. Guarantees were not fulfilled but they started fulfilling their one motive - to make Karnataka an ATM," Chandrasekhar said.
"We had clearly said before the election that if the Congress is elected, Karnataka will become the ATM of one family and it was proved true," he claimed.
The BJP leader said he belongs to Karnataka, where the Congress had given five major guarantees.
"After the elections, the Congress changed the criteria for beneficiaries of these guarantees," he claimed.
The minister said the Congress promised Rs 3,000 per month to unemployed youth in Karnataka.
After winning the elections, the criteria were changed and the government there said only the youth who cleared graduation in the previous years will get its benefit, he said.
The Congress had given a guarantee to provide a financial aid of Rs 2,000 per month to women in the southern state. After winning the elections, its government said all women will not get this benefit, he claimed.
The Union minister further said the Congress gave a guarantee to provide 2,000 units of free electricity to every household. But, power tariffs have gone up and farmers, who used to get 24-hour electricity, are facing problems in that state, he said.
The Congress promised 10 kg of rice to every member of the BPL (below poverty line) households but they changed the criteria and didn't fulfil the guarantee, he claimed.
Further hitting out at the Congress, Chandrasekhar said it promised free bus travel passes to women in Karnataka, but later said it will be meant for a specific category and not for all.
People commuting for work are not getting seats in the buses and it also damaged the auto-rickshaw industry, he said.
Development in Karnataka came to a standstill and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said there is no money for development, Chandrasekhar further claimed.
Elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly are scheduled on November 17.
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Nitish loses cool inside Bihar assembly over opposition's 'guns and bullets' jibe
Patna (PTI): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lost his composure inside the state assembly on Tuesday when opposition members created a ruckus alleging that his government was ruling the state with the help of "guns and bullets".
The 76-year-old leader, who stood up to admonish the unruly members, also had a slip of tongue, as he underscored the brute majority enjoyed by the NDA, saying "our strength is two thousand and two".
The BJP-led coalition, which includes Kumar's JD(U) and a few smaller parties, had swept the Bihar assembly polls last year, bagging 202 seats of the 243-strong House.
Trouble began soon after the House assembled at 11 am, with RJD MLA Kumar Sarvajeet registering a protest against the police's baton charge on village 'chowkidars' (watchmen) here a day ago when they were staging a demonstration to press the demand for a hike in stipends.
"The 'chowkidars' who were demanding a hike in their pay are very much employees of the Home department. Yet, they were treated in a deplorable fashion yesterday," alleged Sarvajeet.
Several other MLAs of the opposition party also raised a slogan: "bandook goli ki sarkar nahin chalegi (will not allow a rule by brute force, with the help of guns and bullets)".
This provoked Kumar, the longest serving CM of the state, who heads the JD(U) and has had a couple of short-lived alliances with the RJD in the past.
He shouted: "Do not talk rubbish. This government will run without any hiccups. Just look at us. We are two thousand and two. And just look at how many of you have been left now."
Kumar was apparently referring to the RJD's drubbing in the last assembly polls when it returned with a tally of 25, one of its worst ever performances.
When RJD leader Bhai Virendra reminded the JD(U) supremo of their two short-lived alliances in the last one decade, Kumar shot back: "Yes, and you people always indulged in mischief, a reason why I pulled out never to return".
The CM also reminded the opposition party, which was unseated from power by the NDA helmed by him in 2005, that "You did nothing worthwhile during the period you were in power... Law and order had been so abysmal that people feared getting out of their homes after 5 pm. So you better not talk nonsense."
Amid the heated exchange, some of the opposition MLAs trooped into the well, briefly plunging the House into turmoil.
The agitated members got pacified after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary rose to interject and said, "We will call representatives of various associations of chowkidars for talks. Their demands will be looked into, and appropriate action will be taken."
