Bengaluru: Releasing BJP’s poll manifesto, National BJP President JP Nadda on Monday said the saffron party has double-engine government to offer to the people of Karnataka, on the other hand the Congress has “trouble-engine government” to offer that puts brakes on development-oriented policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
“If we have a double-engine government, they (Congress) have a trouble-engine government. We are there for development. They are there for reverse-gear. We are there to give pace to the development. They are there to put brakes to the development and good policies of PM Modi,” he said after releasing BJP’s poll manifesto here.
Nadda said the six-year misrule by the Congress in Karnataka was a massive setback for the good policies of the BJP because of the reverse-gear government of Siddaramaiah in the state.
Siddaramaiah’s regime, he said was looting natural resources, letting criminals and anti-social elements run amok, and appeasing a certain section of the society, only to consolidate their vote bank.
Quantifying the contention of benefits reaching to the people of Karnataka through double-engine government, Nadda said the Siddaramaiah government sent only 17 names of the farmers for availing benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi. “This is called halting the development. This is called using the brakes, and becoming an obstacle between the people and central government,” he explained.
On the contrary, as much as Rs 15,000 crore were spent for giving Rs 10,000 consolidated benefits to 54 lakh farmers in Karnataka under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi. “This is the classic example of a double-engineered government of the BJP,” Nadda said.
He also said the insurance scheme named Yashashvini was scrapped by the Congress government in 2018, but was revived by BJP which ensured a registration of 32 lakh farmers. “So we have to understand what we mean by the double-engine government,” he said.
Nadda also said FDI was Rs 1.75 lakh crore in the Congress rule, but in BS Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai’s regimes, it reached Rs 3.02 lakh crore.
The party’s national president said the Congress government could only open 548 health and wellness centres, but as many as 8,618 such centres were opened during Bommai’s rule.
Nadda said during Congress regime there was a breakdown of law and order as People’s Front of India (PFI) was given a freehand to terrorise people, and astonishingly Bengaluru became the second-most unsafe city for women in India. “This was the time when Mr Siddaramaiah withdrew 175 criminal cases against PFI,” he said.
But when BJP came to power, Nadda said it banned PFI and NIA was given freehand, and 41,000 security cameras were installed across Bengaluru, enhancing women’s safety.
Nadda also said BJP made revolutionary changes by meeting long-pending demands pertaining to social justice by treading the line of justice to all, appeasement to none. “Therefore, the unconstitutional reservation given to minorities was repealed,” he said.
Under Bommai’s leadership, the BJP enhanced reservation SC and ST, from 15 to 17 per cent and 3 to 7 percent, respectively, Nadda said. “The Vokkaligas’ reservation was enhanced by 2 per cent and Lingayats’ by 2 per cent under 2C and 2D categories of the OBC,” he said.
Nadda said the double-engine government delivered justice to the long-pending issues pertaining to irrigation projects which no government had the audacity to even touch them.
“They ignored it once for all, but when the BJP government came we tried to resolve the Upper Bhadra Lift Irrigation Project which was allocated the first installment of Rs 5,300 crores in the union budget. And, in the same way, the state budget provided Rs 1,000 crore for Kalasa-Bandura project,” he said.
Nadda said the government allocated Rs 5,000 crore for Upper Krishna Third Phase. In the same way, the long-pending 3,526 unrecorded Lambani thandas and Kurubahattis were declared as new revenue villages, and they were given hakku patrasa, and 1.75 lakh beneficiaries have benefitted out of it, he said.
Nadda said the BJP government also took care to protect and revive the glorious culture of Karnataka and the Kannadigas, and for that anti-cow slaughter bill was passed in 2021 and anti-conversion law passed in 2022.
The BJP government also has undertaken comprehensive development of Anjanadri Hill, the birthplace of Lord Hanuman, by allocating Rs 100 crore for it. It also allocated Rs 600 crore for developing Anubhava Mantapa in the honour of Sri Basaveshwara, he said.
The government also undertook construction of a majestic Rama Mandir at Ramanagara, Nadda said. “All this shows how we have tried to revive the historic culture of Karnataka and the pride of Kannadigas,” he said.
Talking about the manifesto, Nadda said it is different from the Congress that talks about guarantees that have an outdated warranty. “They have never given anything. They have only talked about it,” he said.
BJP’s manifesto contains realistic achievable promises which would fulfil the aspirations of Karnataka’s youth, farmers, women, weavers, middle class, SC/ST communities, and also all sections of the society, Nadda said.
The manifesto is centred around six themes – Anna, Akshara, Aarogya, Abhivruddi, Aadaya and Abhaya. “Under these six schemes our manifesto is centred around and to this vision document we have tried to restore the prosperity of Karnataka and the glory days of Vijaynagar empire. That is what we want, and for that this is the foundation we are keeping through this manifesto, and trying to see that in next 25 years how do we march forward,” he said.
UNI
