Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP President B S Yeddyurappa, MP PC Mohan, Jagadish Shettar and Suresh Kumar release the party's manifesto for the upcoming Assembly polls in Bengaluru on Friday. PTI Photo by Shailendra Bhojak (PTI5_4_2018_000041B) *** Local Caption *** The saffron party promises free smartphones, laptops; cow slaughter also gets a mention
Bengaluru : The Congress party on Friday dubbed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manifesto for May 12 Karnataka Assembly election a “jumla” (fake promise) and a “pack of lies”.
“What is the guarantee the BJP will implement its promise of waiving farmer’s loans up to Rs 1 lakh? We are aware that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not fulfilled several of his promises made during 2014 Lok Sabha elections. This promise in the manifesto will be another ‘jumla’,” state Congress chief G. Parameshwara told reporters here.
The BJP’s 60-page manifesto unveiled here on Friday proposed to waive all farmers’ loans up to Rs 1 lakh from nationalised and cooperative banks in the very first Cabinet meeting after the swearing-in of the new government, among other promises like free laptops to college students and free smartphones to poor women.
“Our manifesto aims to cater to the aspirations of the people of Karnataka. We have focused on the welfare of farmers, women, youths and backward sections,” said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit head and chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa.
“All women from the below poverty line (BPL) families will be given free smartphones under a ‘Mukhya Mantri Smartphone Yojane’,” Yeddyurappa told the media here. Every student enrolling in a college will get a free laptop. One thousand farmers will be allowed to travel to countries like Israel and China each year to study their best agricultural practices under the “Chief Minister’s Fellowship for Agriculture”, the manifesto said.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who is on a two-day tour to the poll-bound state, took to Twitter to rate BJP’s manifesto, giving it one out of five points, reports IANS.
“New Book Review: The BJP Karnataka Manifesto, inspired by (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, is a poorly crafted fantasy built around a weak plot, that has nothing unique to offer to voters. If you’ve read the Congress manifesto, don’t waste your time on this one. Rating: 1/5 Recommendation: Avoid,” mocked Gandhi.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the BJP’s manifesto “copied” the ruling Congress’ existing schemes like Indira Canteen.
The BJP in its manifesto said it would build over 300 “Annapoorna Canteens” across the state, with three in each of the 30 district headquarters and one in each sub-district headquarters, to provide affordable meals to all.
“Why weren’t these Annapoorna Canteens made during the previous BJP government’s tenure (2008-11)?” Siddaramaiah tweeted.
The BJP failed to meet over 90 per cent of the promises it made in its manifesto for the 2008 Assembly election and has again put forth a similar “pack of lies”, the Chief Minister said.
The document proposes to waive all farmers’ loans up to Rs 1 lakh from nationalised and cooperative banks in the very first Cabinet meeting after the swearing-in of the new government. “An amount of Rs 100 crore will be allocated for ‘Raitha Bandhu Scholarship’ to be given to farmers’ children to pursue agriculture and allied sector courses in the state,” the manifesto added. The BJP also said that it will reintroduce the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation Bill, 2012. “The ‘Gau Seva Aayoga’ (cow welfare committee), set up by Yeddyurappa, will be re-established,” the manifesto added. The BJP manifesto also vowed to allocate Rs 6,500 crore to build houses for people from Scheduled Tribes and an additional Rs 8,500 crore for housing for the Scheduled Castes.
The BJP came to power on its own for the first time in 2008 but lost to the ruling Congress after five years in the May 2013 assembly election.