Guarantee convention in Mandya, a show of strength by Congress

Mandya: Close on the heels of announcing the Lok Sabha candidate, the convention of the beneficiaries of government guarantee schemes turned out to be a show of strength by Congress, in Mandya, on Sunday.

Thousands of people participated in the convention, held at ground near Mandya University.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah praised Mandya as a historical district.

He expressed his gratitude to the people for their support in making the party win six out of seven taluks in the district during the Assembly polls and said he was confident that they would vote for the Congress candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha poll.

Siddaramaiah pointed out that the party has 'delivered as promised' after coming to power in 2023. "We held a meeting in May 2023, after we took charge and decided to implement five guarantees.

Accordingly, the Shakti scheme was implemented in June. Crores of women have benefited from the scheme across the state, including in Mandya district. Anna Bhagya scheme, Gruha Jyothi and Yuva Nidhi schemes too were implemented. It is your responsibility to support Congress for the Lok Sabha election as you did for the Assembly election", he said.

He also targeted the BJP-JD, S, alliance claiming it as an 'unholy alliance'. JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy had said that he will not align with the communal party BJP.

H D Deve Gowda had once said that he would like to be a Muslim in his next birth. Now, they have entered into a pact with the communal party. MP Sumalatha, who contested as an Independent last time won because of Congress votes, he pointed out. Now, there is a tug-of-war for the ticket between Sumalatha and JD, to contest from Mandya. Whover, the candidate is, the unholy alliance should not win. The people should vote for the Congress, he appealed.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar spoke about the impact of guarantee schemes and how it has strengthened the hands of the Congress. The BJP has lost its mind and levelled allegations against the Congress that water was being released to Tamil Nadu from the KRS dam.

A group of farmers protesting against the government alleging that water was being released to Tamil Nadu were detained by the police.

Malavalli MLA P M Narendra Swamy explained that the water is being released to tackle the drinking water problem in Bengaluru and not to Tamil Nadu as projected., Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy, MLAs, DC Kumar and dignitaries were present.