Siddaramaiah challenges Bommai to a public debate on BJP's 'unfulfilled' manifesto

Nearly 550 of their 600 promises remain unfulfilled, the former CM alleged

Former chief minister and Opposition leader in Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah challenged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to a public debate with Congress on the "fulfilled promises" that BJP had mentioned in its previous election manifesto.

Speaking during Praja Dhwani convention organised by the District Congress in Mangaluru on Sunday, he said, “BJP-led state government is a bundle of lies. Nearly 550 of their 600 promises remain unfulfilled. While the previous Congress government has fulfilled 158 of the 165 promises."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the biggest liar among all Prime Ministers of India, the LoP said. Why did he not take any action against the 40 per cent commission racket in the state government, Siddarmaiah asked.

Also read | BJP turning coastal Karnataka into Hindutva laboratory: Siddaramaiah

"Like a hotel’s menu card, the Chief Minister has kept a menu containing the rate of bribes for different works such as government transfers. The state government is the most corrupt government in the history of the state. Even the walls of the Vidhana Soudha utter ‘40%’," he said, announcing that he will retire from politics if BJP proves that he has indulged in corruption.

The coastal districts have been converted into the Hindutva laboratory by BJP by provoking youth from backward classes in the name of Hindutva, he added.

KPCC president D K Shivkumar said that Congress will soon release the list of BJP’s wrongdoings so that people can show the same to BJP leaders when they come to seek votes.

What about the promise of the Prime Minister on doubling farmers’ income, Shivakumar asked, alleging that no relief has been provided to those who were affected by Covid-19. Who is responsible for the death of 36 people in Chamarajanagar due to oxygen shortage during the pandemic, DKS asked.

AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Sujrewala said that the real Rama Rajya is about harmony and brotherhood. However, the BJP has been trying to interpret the meaning of Rama Rajya in its own way, which is on the basis of religion, he said. The RSS is using its own version of Hindutva to mislead people, he added.

He also hit out at BJP state president and DK MP Nalin Kumar Kateel’s statement of Love Jihad, saying that Congress works on uniting people while BJP divides them on the basis of religion. Due to this reason, the Smart City project has been a failure in Mangaluru, he said.