Ex-K'taka CM Bommai slams Siddaramaiah govt for not rolling out Cong poll guarantees on first day
Bengaluru, May 20: Former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday flayed the Congress for not fulfilling its five guarantees on the first day it assumed power in the state.
Newly sworn-in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the Karnataka Cabinet led by him in its maiden meet today accorded "in-principle" approval to implement the Congress party's five guarantees and initial estimates indicate that it would cost the exchequer Rs 50,000 crore annually.
The first Cabinet meeting was held immediately after Siddaramaiah was sworn in as Chief Minister, and D K Shivakumar as Deputy Chief Minister along with eight MLAs as Ministers.
"It's agreed upon. We will not go back (on the promises)," the Chief Minister said, adding, the assurances would be fulfilled notwithstanding financial implications, if any.
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The assurances promised before the elections would "most likely" be implemented after the next Cabinet meeting, he said addressing a press conference here.
The party's five poll guarantees are 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kilograms of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth, Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti).
Bommai said the people of Karnataka had high expectations from the new government but they were disappointed.
He alleged that these have turned out to be mere promises because the Congress did not study the beneficiaries, estimated expenditure, the conditions, and when to start these guarantees.
"The government says it will be implemented in the next cabinet meeting. We don't know when it will be implemented, whether or not, in the next cabinet meeting. The real colours of this government will be known only after the orders are passed," Bommai alleged.
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Mamata paints 'SIR' and 'Vanish' at dharna stage, turns to art to protest voter roll revision
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday turned to 'art' as a symbolic form of protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, painting the words "SIR" and "Vanish" on the fifth day of her sit-in demonstration, alleging deletion of genuine voters.
At the dharna stage at Metro Channel in central Kolkata, Banerjee was seen drawing with pastel colours on a canvas with a green background placed on a stand. On top of the canvas, she wrote "SIR", while she inscribed the word "Vanish" in white in the middle.
The canvas had several small irregular circles and a larger outline resembling some kind of a map, gradually whitewashing portions of the green canvas, apparently symbolising voters being erased from the electoral rolls.
The chief minister was engaged in the drawing while Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was addressing a press conference in the city.
Banerjee has been staging the sit-in since March 6 to protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) carried out by the Election Commission of India, alleging that the exercise has led to large-scale deletion of genuine voters in the state ahead of the Assembly polls likely to be held in April.
The ruling All India Trinamool Congress said that the chief minister used 'art' at the protest site to express resistance against what it described as "anti-Bengal forces" and to highlight opposition to the “flawed” revision exercise.
Several supporters also used art in front of the dharna stage to express their protest.
In the past, Banerjee has also referred to the CEC as "Vanish Kumar" while criticising the poll panel's actions. However, she did not make any direct comment about the poll body chief during Tuesday's protest.
Over the past few days, the Trinamool Congress supremo has repeatedly accused the Election Commission of India of "dancing to the tunes of the BJP" and attempting to disenfranchise legitimate voters in the state, an allegation rejected by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
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