Bagalkote (K'taka) (PTI): Quoting Lingayat sect founder Basaveshwara and extolling his government's development agenda, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said he will return to power again after the assembly election, which is due by May.

Addressing a public gathering at Hungund in northern Karnataka's Bagalkote district here on Tuesday night, the Chief Minister said he has performed sincerely to offer social justice to every section of the society, which resulted in increase in the annual per capita income by Rs 1 lakh in the last four years.

"I will come back as chief minister again. God has given me an opportunity to serve Mother Karnataka. I have done sincere work," Bommai said during an election rally.

The Chief Minister said he is treading on the path of "work is worship" and social equality, as advocated by 12th Century social reformer and founder of Lingayat sect Basaveshwara.

"I tried to give social justice to every section of the society. People had asked for corporations of various communities for their overall development. We are treading on the path shown by Basaveshwara," Bommai said.

The Chief Minister, who belongs to the Lingayat community, invoked the name of Basaveshwara, whose followers form a large chunk in Karnataka, especially in the northern part of the state.

Bommai said the key parameter of growth in Karnataka was the per capita income in the state, which has grown substantially.

"Before our government came to power, the per capita income in Karnataka was Rs 2.42 lakh per annum, which has now increased to Rs 3.47 lakh, which is more than a lakh. This is despite the COVID situation. This shows we carried out development in the middle of COVID pandemic," the Chief Minister said.

He claimed that due to the initiatives of the state government in the last four years since the BJP came to power, Karnataka became the number one destination in investment and innovation.

According to Bommai, the state got an investment of Rs 12 lakh crore during the Global Investor's Meet, which was organised last year.

He appealed to the people to choose BJP if they wish to see the state marching on the development path.

The Chief Minister also hit out at Congress stalwart Siddaramaiah for "lying" to the people alleging that he reduced the quantity of rice given to the poor from 10 kilograms in 2012 when the BJP was in power to 5 kg.

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Bengaluru, Jan 9: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said the ineligible BPL ration card holders who do not meet the criteria set by the central government should be identified and removed in a phased manner.

He, however, told the officials during a review meeting of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department that the card of a single eligible BPL cardholder should not be cancelled.

Ineligible BPL ration cardholders should be given time to voluntarily return their BPL cards, after which action should be taken to cancel the cards by giving notice to them, the Chief Minister was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his office.

Nearly 4,000 government employees have already been removed from the list, the statement said.

It said that there are 1,53,69,945 ration cards in the state, with 5,30,88,636 member beneficiaries.

It further said that Rs 4,692 crore grant has been released under the Annabhagya scheme direct cash transfer, and Rs 3,253 crore has been spent till the end of October. Over, 4.44 crore beneficiaries are benefiting from the scheme, which is one of the five pre-poll guarantees of the Congress government.

Siddaramaiah also reviewed the status of petrol pumps in the state.

The Chief Minister’s office said there are a total of 4,518 petrol pumps in the state, and 503 petrol stations have been inspected till the end of December.

Siddaramaiah directed the officials that the inspection of petrol pumps should be increased and irregularities like fraud in measurement and quality should be completely curbed.

The CM also asked the officials to make arrangements to procure food grains at the minimum support price and steps should be taken to complete all the processes quickly so that farmers do not face any problems.

Under the One Nation One Ration Card scheme, 13,383 beneficiaries from other states are getting ration facilities in Karnataka.

Under the Anna-Suvidha Yojana, food grains are provided at the doorstep of single-person households above 80 years of age and 8,500 ration card holders are benefiting under the scheme, the statement said.

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