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Firing a stinging barb at the ruling Congress, former Karnataka minister and BJP leader, Govind Karjol, on Sunday claimed that the grand old party came to power in the state by cheating people.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, the BJP leader, "They came to power at the expense of cheating the people of Karnataka. The reason I am using the word cheating is because while we are aware that candidates, who are well-off, often spend from their own pockets to meet electoral expenses, this was, perhaps, the first instance of a ruling party channelling funds from the public exchequer to win elections. We have heard of about landlords selling off their land to fight elections but we have never heard of a party using public money to win elections." Further hitting out at the ruling party, he said the Congress came to power on the weight of its five guarantees to the people but did not use party funds to keep these promises. Neither did Chief Minister Siddaramaiah nor Deputy CM DK Shivakumar spend from their own pockets to meet their promises to the people. Karjol alleged that the Congress used public funds to deliver on their five guarantees. "It's six months since the Congress formed the government but not a single developmental task has been accomplished," Karjol said, claiming that the failure of the ruling party to ensure adequate electricity supply led to extensive crop damage across the state. "When we were in power, our government would provide three-phased electricity for 7 hours uninterrupted. However, the same has been discontinued since the Congress came to power. Due to the non-availability of adequate electricity, farmers are struggling to water their fields," the BJP leader said. He said Karnataka used to be a power surplus state under the BJP, with 55 per cent surplus electricity yielding annual earnings of Rs 1000-2000 crore, adding that the Congress hasn't announced any plan to ensure the prevailing scarcity management. Accusing the CM and his deputy of not making timely purchases of coal to supplement the production of thermal power in Karnataka, he said it wasn't possible to do so now as the production of coal stopped during the rainy season. "Siddaramaiah has just made a habit of pointing fingers at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for everything," Karjol added. He claimed further that several villages in Karnataka were turning ghost villages, with locals migrating to neighbouring states in search of jobs. Farmers residing in villages are even finding it difficult to raise cattle, the BJP leader added. (ANI)
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