‘Never in history have bus fares been hiked by 15pc ,’ BJP slams Siddaramaiah Govt

KALABURAGI: Slamming the Congress government for the “never in history” 15 per cent hike in Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus fare, BJP on Friday asked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to roll back the “anti-people move.”

On Thursday, the Karnataka government announced the 15 per cent increase in bus fares.

Speaking to ANI, Leader of the Opposition and BJP MLA R Ashok on Saturday said, “Just like the Himachal government, the Karnataka government is also a pauper government. Never in history have bus fares been hiked by 15%. Congress looted Karnataka for 60 years when they were in power…”

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— ANI (@ANI) January 4, 2025

Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra also claimed that bus fares were raised as the Congress government is unable to raise resources to fulfil their “poll guarantees.”

“The Congress government is unable to raise resources to fulfil their poll guarantees… The KSRTC and bus department of Karnataka are virtually bankrupt and on the verge of closing… BJP opposes this anti-people move. We demand the CM to take back this decision of price hike,” Vijayendra said.

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— ANI (@ANI) January 4, 2025

BJP MLC CT Ravi too attacked the Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government over the 15% hike in KSRTC bus fare saying, “Since they came into power, this party (Congress) has done nothing except raise prices and corruption.”

Earlier on Friday, Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy expressed strong displeasure over the Karnataka Congress government’s decision to increase bus fares by 15 per cent and said the government has made it a “routine” to hike prices and burden the public.

“Since coming to power, this government has made it a routine to burden the public, and the people are forced to bear it,” Kumaraswamy said.
BJP leader Shehzad Poonawala claimed that the Karnataka government decided to hike bus fares because the state treasury is empty and the coffers are empty due to scams like the MUDA and fake guarantees.

“This is being done because the treasury of Karnataka is empty. In the next three months, Karnataka Congress is going to borrow Rs 48,000 crore. Imagine, this is the situation! They have no money left for development; everything has been wiped off in scams like the MUDA scam, Valmiki scam, or in fake guarantees. Therefore, the economy has completely crashed, and they need to borrow or tax the people more,” he said. (ANI)