Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah invites KCR to his state to see Congress guarantees being implemented
Hyderabad, Nov 26: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday invited his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao to visit his state to see how the five guarantee schemes of the Congress government have been implemented -- dismissing Rao's allegations that the party did not fulfil its poll promises.
Expressing confidence that the Congress would form the next government in Telangana and implement the six poll guarantees given to the state's people, he said KCR (K Chandrasekhar Rao) is going to lose power in the assembly elections.
Siddaramaiah said he saw media reports about the allegations made by Chandrasekhar Rao, his son K T Rama Rao and some BJP leaders that the Congress government in Karnataka has not implemented the five guarantees it gave to the people ahead of the May assembly polls that it won there.
He said these allegations are being made in view of the elections by the rival parties.
"The allegations made by opposition parties, these are all false allegations. The BRS party is lying and Chandrasekhar Rao is lying. Because he knows that he is going to lose the power (in the assembly elections)," Siddaramaiah told reporters here.
"When I came here earlier (as part of campaigning), I gave an open invitation to Chandrasekhar Rao to come to Karnataka and discuss with us and verify the documents. But, he did not come. Even today I will ask Chandrasekhar Rao: Please come to Karnataka and don't make such allegations unnecessarily for election purposes," Siddaramaiah said.
"You can verify...I don't know why they are telling lies. I can understand if Chandrasekhar Rao makes statement that the guarantees are not being implemented because he is facing the elections -- and for the purpose of elections he is saying lies and his son is also telling lie. I don't know why others are telling lies," he said.
Siddaramaiah said he was sure that the Congress will win the Telangana assembly elections.
"Congress will, 100 per cent, come to power in Telangana and all the six guarantees that have been promised will be implemented. Nobody should doubt it," he said.
On the Congress's five guarantees in Karnataka, he said the first guarantee 'Shakthi' scheme, providing free bus travel for women, wasimplemented in June and it has logged over 100 crore rides recently.
On the 'Anna Bhagya' scheme which was to provide 10 kg rice for free, Siddaramaiah said the Food Corporation of India refused to supply the additional five kg rice under "pressure" from the Centre and hence his government was paying cash instead of the five kg rice promised to each beneficiary through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) since July.
Siddaramaiah further said the 'Gruha Jyothi' scheme, which promises 200 units of free electricity to households, started in July.
Regarding 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme, which provides Rs 2,000 per month to the women head of the families, he said the scheme started in August and 1.14 crore beneficiaries have been covered so far and registration is continuing.
Siddaramaiah said the fifth guarantee 'Yuva Nidhi' scheme, (Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders) offering unemployment allowances, will commence in January 2024.
These schemes require about Rs 38,000 crore for this year and already budget allocation has been made, he said.
There is no question of cheating the people at all, he said adding that the Congress party never cheated the people. "Whatever promises Congress party made in its manifesto and also the five guarantees, we are implementing and we are going to implement," he said.
He said all the developmental works are also going on and there is no dearth of funds to carry them out.
Dismissing the charge that Karnataka would become bankrupt due to the guarantee schemes, Siddaramaiah said, "The economy of Karnataka is very good and sound and we are implementing all the promises made to the people of Karnataka".
When asked about senior BJP leader and former Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa's accusation that Congress was deceiving the people by not implementing its five pre-poll guarantees after coming to power, Siddaramaiah said he (Yediyurappa) is "frustrated and making false statements".
Reacting to a comment on reports that Karnataka farmers were staging protests in Telangana, he said, "They are not Karnataka farmers, I know that. No farmer from Karnataka came to Telangana; why will they come and protest here?".
Responding to another query, he said "We have fulfilled five guarantees in the first phase and also 76 promises. A manifesto is always for five years and at once (in one go) we cannot implement all the promises".
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
