BENGALURU: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that Congress government will deliver on all the five promises that the party made during the election campaign and added that it will will become law after the first cabinet meeting, scheduled to be held later in the afternoon.
Addressing the jampacked crowd at the Sri Kanteerava Stadium after the swearing-in ceremony, Rahul Gandhi said, “We made five promises to you. I had said we don’t make false promises. We do what we say. In 1-2 hours, the first cabinet meeting of the Karnataka government will be held these five promises will become law. We will give you a clean, non-corrupt government”, he added.
The Congress manifesto lists five main guarantees — Gruha Jyoti: 200 units of free power to all households; Gruha Lakshmi: Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family; Anna Bhagya: 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household; Yuva Nidhi scheme: diploma holders will get an allowance of Rs 1,500 per month for two years, while graduates will receive Rs 3,000 per month; and Shakti: Free bus rides for all women in the state”.
Rahul Gandhi said that party won the Assembly election because it stood with the poor, Dalits, Adivasis, backwards.
“Nafrat ko mitaya, Mohabbat jeeti,” he said.
“The Congress had truth while the BJP had money which was defeated by the people of the state. After Congress’s victory, many things were written as to how Congress won this election, different analyses were done, but I want to say that Congress won because we stood with the poor, Dalits, and Adivasis, backwards. We had the truth and poor people. BJP had money, police and everything, but the people of Karnataka defeated all their powers,” he said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, in his address, said, “Rahul Gandhi has clearly spelt out the five guarantees and we have promised to approve it in the first Cabinet meeting itself. What we say, we will do it. We will implement the five guarantees for sure”.
“Whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes to Japan, he will issue a notification to ban currency notes. The last time he went, he banned the Rs 1,000 notes, now he has banned the Rs 2,000 notes. How this benefits the country or not, no one knows. He only troubles people”, Kharge added.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dedicated the Congress victory to the people of Karnataka. “The Congress campaign in Karnataka started with Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. I thank all the senior Congress leaders including Rahulk Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and others for campaigning in the state and all sections of society, including, women, farmers, youth and workers who stood with the party”.
The CM further said, “Today itself, the Cabinet will issue an order approving the five guarantees and to bring it to effect. This is the assurance and promise of the new government to the people of Karnataka. We will fulfill everything mentioned in the manifesto in the next five years”.