Congress will win 20 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, asserts Siddaramaiah

The Congress will win at least 20 seats in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls scheduled next year, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asserted in the Assembly on Thursday.

The CM said this during his reply to the discussion on the 2023-24 budget.

Siddaramaiah said people of the state had responded positively to the implementation of the five guarantees even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had mocked them by claiming that they would cause an adverse impact on the economy.

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"The BJP is a communal party that thrives on creating rift among communities. They must forever remain in the Opposition and should never come to power," Siddaramaiah said.

"The downfall of the BJP has begun from Karnataka. Modi's popularity is declining day by day. The Karnataka Assembly poll was a case in point. Even though Modi visited the state 28 times for campaigning, the BJP lost the elections," Siddaramaiah said.

In 2019, the BJP won 25 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka.

Lashing out at PM Modi, Siddaramaiah alleged that the union government "ruined" the country's economy. "The country's liabilities have gone up from Rs 53 lakh crore in 2014 to Rs 170 lakh crore this year. The Centre has burdened the common man by increasing tax on milk, curd, pen, pencil, wheat, tender coconut etc. However, tax on corporate bodies was reduced to 22 per cent from 30 per cent earlier. The country has lost Rs 2 lakh crore in revenue owing to this," he charged.

Siddaramaiah said there was "fiscal indiscipline" during the previous BJP regime in the state.

"They (BJP) allocated Rs 2.55 lakh crore for projects across sectors and tied up finances. They've allocated Rs 5,300 crore for Upper Bhadra in anticipation that it'll be declared as a national project. Four months on, not a single rupee has come from the Centre," Siddaramaiah said, adding that the BJP's fiscal indiscipline was a result of "40 per cent commission".

The government will inquire into mismanagement of funds during Covid-19, the Bitcoin scam and also irregularities in the PSI recruitment, Siddaramaiah said.

Meanwhile, by implementing the five guarantees and allocating Rs 35,410 crore this year for them, the government is creating universal basic income, a policy followed in several developed nations. "This is the Karnataka model," Siddaramaiah said, taking a dig at the oft-cited 'Gujarat Model'.

With this, the Assembly passed the budget while Opposition benches were empty.