BJP copying Cong's guarantee schemes for election 'jumla': Mallikarjun Kharge
Bengaluru (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday accused the BJP of copying his party's guarantee schemes and making similar announcements in poll-bound states as part of its election "jumla" (rhetoric).
Hitting out at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he strongly defended the Karnataka Congress government's guarantee schemes, and said his party implements the promises made as it always works for the welfare of the people.
"I have responded to them in detail in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Even now, I ask them to study our Karnataka (state) budget. About Rs 52,000 crore has been allocated for the five guarantee schemes in the budget, 47 per cent of which has already been spent... probably they have not seen the budget," Kharge claimed, while responding to a question on BJP leaders and Modi targeting state's guarantee schemes during their election campaign.
Without any proper budget (allocation), the BJP has now made several announcements, he said, adding, "taking clues from five guarantees that we announced in Karnataka, they made announcements in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat Rajasthan and other places...."
Speaking to reporters here, Kharge said the BJP is on a propaganda to bring a bad name to the Karnataka government to which no one should lend their ears.
"They have copied our (Congress) guarantees. We are at least implementing guarantee schemes promised. We had done it while in the Central government, we are doing it now in the states where we are in power."
The BJP and Modi have not fulfilled or implemented any of their guarantees, he said, referring to "announcements such as Rs 15 lakh to every bank account when black money repatriated from abroad", creating 2 crore jobs, hiking MSP on crops, bullet trains, among others.
"Everything is jumla. They speak things for the sake of elections, while Congress always works for the welfare of the people," he added.
Not willing to give any direct response to a question on the Waqf related controversy in Karnataka, the Congress chief said, "joint select committee is looking into it. I have no role in it, I can't speak....once the joint select committee report comes to the Parliament, we can speak on it."
Regarding doubts being expressed about the sanctity of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) ahead of Maharashtra polls, Kharge said, "I don't want to speak on it repeatedly. We have a team on EVMs including leaders like Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Many are working on it. Let's see."
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AIMIM wins Malegaon Central seat by 162 votes
Malegaon (Maharashtra), Nov 23: In a closely contested election, Mohammad Ismail Abdul Khalique of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has retained the Malegaon Central assembly seat, winning by a razor-thin margin of 162 votes.
This victory in the north Maharashtra constituency marks a significant turnaround for Khalique, who previously enjoyed a commanding lead in the 2019 elections, winning by over one lakh votes.
Khalique, an Islamic scholar, received a total of 1,09,653 votes this time, narrowly defeating his nearest rival, Asif Shaikh Rasheed of the Indian Secular Largest Assembly of Maharashtra party, who got 1,09,491 votes.
There were a total of 13 candidates contesting in this Muslim dominated constituency. Barring Khalique and Rasheed, two other candidates -- Shaan-e-Hind Nihal Ahmed of Samajwadi Party and Ejaz Baig Aziz Baig managed below 10,000 votes. Other remaining candidates were below 1,000 votes.
This election marks Khalique's third term as an MLA. He initially represented the Malegaon Central seat in 2009 as a member of the Jan Surajya Shakti party.
However, Khalique faced a setback in the 2014 elections when he contested under the banner of the Nationalist Congress Party and lost.
His return to the assembly in 2019 under the AIMIM banner solidified his political presence, and despite the significantly reduced margin this year, he has once again emerged victorious.
The results highlight the competitive nature of the Malegaon Central constituency and underscore Khalique's resilience in maintaining his position amidst changing political dynamics.
