Davangere, 1 April

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday expressed confidence that Congress candidates will win both the Bagalkot and Davanagere South assembly bypolls in the state by a huge margin, as the government's five guarantee schemes will help the party.

Asserting that Karnataka's economy is in good shape, he accused the BJP of making negative statements for political gain.

The CM is in Davanagere to campaign for Congress candidate Samarth Mallikarjun, after campaigning for Umesh Meti in the Bagalkot segment for the last two days.

Bypolls for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies will be held on 9 April. The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, respectively.

"I'm confident that we will win in both constituencies by a big margin because of our government's good work. Our guarantee schemes ('Shakti', 'Gruha Lakshmi', 'Gruha Jyoti', 'Yuva Nidhi' and 'Anna Bhagya') are helping us. The BJP opposed guarantee schemes because they are programmes for the poor and they always oppose such initiatives," Siddaramaiah said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said over Rs 1.31 lakh crore has been spent on the guarantee schemes so far.

Noting that there are two types of economic theory -- trickle-down economics and universal basic income -- the CM said, "We believe in universal basic income theory because Basavanna, Ambedkar, Gandhiji, among others, wanted the focus to be on eliminating the sufferings of the last man."

"Through the guarantee schemes, the government is providing benefits to the poor in society -- irrespective of their language, caste or religion -- directly to their bank accounts, without any interference from middlemen," he said, as he rejected the BJP's allegations of corruption in guarantee schemes.

Pointing out that the BJP also claims the treasury is empty because of the guarantee schemes and that the state is being pushed into a debt trap, Siddaramaiah said the state's finances were better managed compared to the central government and most of the states where the saffron party is in power.

Karnataka is number two in the country in GST collection and attracting investments. "Then how is the BJP saying that Karnataka's economic situation is not in good shape? They are making such statements for the sake of politics...Karnataka's economic situation is strong. The BJP is lying," he said.

He also claimed that prices of petrol, diesel and other essentials cost less in Karnataka compared to other neighbouring states in South India.

Karnataka's economy is strong and stable, Siddaramaiah said, as he questioned the Modi government over the falling rupee against the dollar, 'Ache din,' doubling farmers' income, and generating 2 crore jobs every year.

The CM also assured of more funds for Davanagere's development saying, "This is bypolls, not general elections. We will give more funds. We are in power and Congress will be in power for two years."