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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Cong's countrywide protest on Wednesday against VB-G RAM-G bill replacing MGNREGA
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress will hold protests across the country on Wednesday against the Centre's rural employment bill VB-G RAM G that seeks to replace MGNREGA, claiming it was a "BJP-RSS conspiracy" to dismantle a rights-based welfare scheme and attack Mahatma Gandhi's legacy, workers' rights and federal responsibility.
The opposition party's general secretary, organisation, K C Venugopal, in a letter to all state Congress presidents, urged them to organise protests at all district headquarters.
These protests must be held with portraits of Mahatma Gandhi, symbolising resistance to the erasure of his name and values, and highlight how the proposed law will impact the crores of beneficiaries of MGNREGA, he said in the letter.
"The combined attack on Gandhiji's legacy, workers' rights and federal responsibility exposes a larger BJP-RSS conspiracy to dismantle rights-based welfare and replace it with charity controlled from the Centre," Venugopal said.
The opposition has strongly objected to the introduction of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025, when it was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday.
ALSO READ: National Herald Case: Delhi court refuses to take cognisance of ED chargesheet against Gandhis
The Congress and other opposition MPs also staged a protest in Parliament House complex over the Centre's move.
In the letter to the Congress state unit chief, Venugopal said that on December 28, the party's Foundation Day, programmes should be organised at all blocks and villages, with Mahatma Gandhi's portraits, reaffirming the party's commitment to the dignity of labour, social justice and the right to work.
"This is both a political and moral struggle. The Congress must lead from the front to defend MGNREGA, Gandhiji's legacy and the constitutional promise of justice for the poorest," Venugopal said in a post on X.
In his letter, he said the BJP government has taken an alarming and deliberate step by introducing a bill to repeal the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
"This is not a routine legislative exercise. It is a calculated political move to weaken a historical, rights-based people's law and to erase Mahatma Gandhi's name and values from India's most recognisable welfare legislation.
"This combined attack on Gandhiji's legacy, rights and federal responsibility exposes a larger BJP-RSS conspiracy to dismantle rights-based welfare and replace it with charity controlled from the Centre," he noted.
