Guarantees will continue, says Siddaramaiah; rebukes Ashoka’s ‘your MLAs unhappy’ remark

The Congress’ flagship ‘guarantee’ schemes will continue and Karnataka will not become bankrupt due to this, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday.

Siddaramaiah said this in a statement responding to leader of the Opposition R Ashoka, who concluded that the Congress’ ‘guarantees’ did not yield votes for the party during the Lok Sabha polls. Ashoka has been critical of the schemes’ impact on state finances. 

“Your wish that the state should become bankrupt because of the guarantees will not be fulfilled. The guarantee schemes will continue and the state’s financial position is secure. The government hasn’t reached the plight of having to borrow loans to pay salaries,” Siddaramaiah said. “Let me know if you’re facing trouble in getting your salary. I’ll try to fix that.”  

The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government spent over Rs 36,000 crore on the five ‘guarantee’ schemes in 2023-24. In the current fiscal, Siddaramaiah has set aside a staggering Rs 52,009 crore on the schemes. 

Siddaramaiah said that the ‘guarantee’ schemes were rolled out not for political reasons.

“It is our commitment and concern towards people of the state. We introduced the guarantees to help people as they had borne the brunt of the union government’s maladministration,” he said.  

Siddaramaiah also asked Ashoka why he and his party dislike the guarantee schemes. “Why do you hate the beneficiaries - the poor, women and youth,” he asked. 

On the poll results, Siddaramaiah maintained that the Congress was not happy with winning nine out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

“But still, don’t forget that people made us win, not you,” he said. “Despite having fallen at the feet of JD(S), the BJP’s tally fell from 26 seats to 17. You couldn’t prevent Congress from winning nine seats, up from one,” he said. 

Nationally, Siddaramaiah said citizens defeated PM Modi’s guarantee and not Congress’ guarantees. 

“It is true that D K Suresh (Bangalore Rural) lost. But in Bellary, Bidar, Chamarajanagar, Chikkodi, Davangere, Kalaburagi and Raichur, our candidates defeated BJP,” Siddaramaiah said. 

Meanwhile, Ashoka pointed to anti-guarantee statements made by some Congress leaders and lawmakers.

“Guarantees have lost. Guarantees didn’t translate into votes. Guarantees need to be reviewed. These aren’t my statements. These are your lawmakers,” Ashoka said in a tweet. “It’s not me who is disappointed about, angry with and doubtful about the guarantees. It’s your lawmakers,” he added.