CM Siddaramaiah challenges BJP to public debate on achievements

Hospet (Karnataka), May 20 (PTI) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday challenged the opposition BJP for a public debate to compare its achievements with that of the ruling Congress.


Speaking at the ‘Sadhana Samavesha’ here in Hospet, the district headquarters town of Vijayanagara district, to mark the Congress government’s two years in office, Siddaramaiah charged the opposition BJP with being "experts in lying" and making false allegations.

“I told them (BJP leaders) to their faces, in the assembly and now here I repeat that they are making false allegations. Let them come on a common platform where both of us can discuss our achievements but they are not ready for it. I am making this very clear,” he said.

Siddaramaiah highlighted the Congress' 2023 assembly election manifesto titled ‘Sarva Janangada Shantiya Thota’, which contained 593 promises.

“Of the 593 promises, 242 have been fulfilled. I assure you that the remaining promises will be fulfilled in the next three years,” he said.


He told the gathering that the Congress came to power on May 20, 2023 and on June 12, 2023 the first guarantee ‘Shakti’ was implemented.
In July 2023, the Congress implemented ‘Gruha Jyoti’ and ‘Anna Bhagya’. In August that year, Gruha Lakshmi and in January last year ‘Yuva Nidhi’ came into effect.


“We implemented all the five guarantees within six months of coming to power and kept our promise. If there is any government which has fulfilled its promises it is Congress government only.”

During his previous stint as Chief Minister from 2013 to 2018, Siddaramaiah said his government fulfilled 157 of 162 promises. Apart from that, 30 programmes, which were not part of our manifesto, were also implemented.


According to Siddaramaiah, the ruling BJP in 2018 had made 600 promises but fulfilled only 10 per cent of it.

“There is a big difference between us and them. They orchestrate violence along communal lines, disturb peace and incite people. We are uniting and harnessing humanity among people. We are making a sincere effort to follow the constitution given to us by Dr B R Ambedkar,” the CM said.

He also underlined that the Congress is following the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi, who gave the Mantra of ‘Sarvodaya’, meaning rise of everyone and bringing equality in the society.

In his address, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said the Congress was not celebrating the completion of two years in office, but repaying the debts of the people of Karnataka.

“You have blessed us with 136 MLAs under the leadership of Mallikarjuna Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. As promised, we delivered the five guarantees,” he said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)