Kudligi, 9 Nov

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that the BJP, which criticised the Congress’ guarantee schemes, is now copying it in Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Speaking at an event in Vijayanagara district on Sunday, he said, “The guarantee schemes of the Congress party are a model to the whole country. It has forced other parties to think about the welfare of people now. The Congress party will serve the people of Karnataka once again after coming back to power in 2028.”

The Congress leader was taking part in an event organised to inaugurate the project to fill 74 tanks in Kudligi taluk from the Tungabhadra river.

Referring to the Congress government’s initial five guarantees in Karnataka and ownership of property – the sixth guarantee - DKS said that filling up the tanks is the seventh guarantee.

“Our party announced the 6th guarantee in property ownership and now we are launching the 7th guarantee of filling up tanks in the state for our farmers. We have already spent over Rs 800 crore to fill tanks. The electricity bill for filling up all these tanks itself is to the tune of Rs 80 lakh. This will greatly benefit 1.76 lakh farmers in Kudligi taluk,” he said.

He also announced the State government’s plan to repair all the crests of the Tungabhadra dam.

“Some people are doing politics over second crop in the Tungabhadra basin area. It is not that we don’t want to give water to farmers but the dam’s safety is important. Farmers should not fall for propaganda,” he explained, asking farmers not to fall for propaganda or to political pressure.

DK Shivakumar mentioned that the Congress High Command has asked for a report on the party leaders who didn’t cooperate & allocate land in the State.  

 “The AICC has asked for a report on the party leaders who have not cooperated for the construction of 100 party offices in the state. We will be sending the report soon to Delhi. We will be laying the foundation stone for the Congress offices very soon,” he said.

Karnataka government is considering opening a Silk Market in Kudligi. “Before coming here, I along with the CM had a meeting with the silk growers in Kudligi. I learnt that there are about 4000 silk growers in the taluk. We will look into opening a silk market in Kudligi in the days to come”.