Congress to replicate the work done by its govt in K'taka across India: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that the party has honoured the key pre-poll promises made to the people in Karnataka and that the “work” carried out by the Siddaramaiah-led government would be replicated across the country.

Seeking to fulfill another key pre-poll promise, the Congress government in Karnataka on Wednesday launched the ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme offering a monthly assistance of Rs 2,000 to about 1.1 crore women who are heads of their households.

AICC President M Mallikarjun Kharge, who launched the scheme, was present along with party MP Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar at the public function held on Maharaja College grounds and attended by tens of thousands of people.

“We have kept our word on our promises” Gandhi said. “We never make false promises” The former AICC President added, “The work we have done in Karnataka will be replicated across India.” The ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme, rolled out amid fanfare, is one of the five pre-poll ‘guarantees’ of the Congress, which ousted the BJP from power in the May Assembly elections.

“The five guarantees of the Congress are not just schemes; they are a governance model,” Gandhi said.

Taking a dig at the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, he said there is a “fashion” these days that the “government in Delhi” only works for billionaires.

“Our thinking is that the Government should work for the welfare of poor people,” he said.

The chief minister had said earlier that the government has already implemented three of the five ‘guarantees’ (pre-poll promises) — ‘Shakti’, ‘Gruha Jyothi’ and ‘Annabhagya’ — and noted that ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ is the fourth one.

The government has earmarked Rs 17,500 crore for the ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ programme in the current financial year, he had added.

The fifth guarantee ‘Yuva Nidhi’ (Youth Fund) promises to give Rs 3,000 and Rs 1,500 a month to unemployed graduates and diploma holders, respectively, who fail to get a job even after six months of clearing their exams in the 2022-23 academic year.

The scheme will be implemented in December or January, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in his address at the function.