Kumaraswamy slams Siddaramaiah for his promises in Telangana while 'failing' in Karnataka

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, on Sunday, hit out at Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah for making guarantees in Telangana while allegedly failing to implement the same in his own state. 

While addressing reporters in Bengaluru, Kumaraswamy called Siddaramaiah a “temporary Chief Minister” and mocked the Congress for promising five hours of electricity to farmers in Telangana when they are already getting 24-hour supply. 

“Temporary Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and ‘duplicate Chief Minister’ DK Shivakumar became a laughing stock for promising five hours of power to the farmers there, when they already receive 24-hour power supply,” Kumaraswamy said. 

The attacks comes ahead of the assembly elections scheduled for November 30. The results of the election will be announced on December 3. 

“The 'duplicate Chief Minister' said in Telangana that they have been giving five hours power daily to the farmers in Karnataka and same would be given to the farmers there if Congress is voted to power. They became a laughing stock because the Telangana government is already giving 24 hours power to farmers,” he further said.

Kumaraswamy also underscored that the Congress party promised to fill two lakh posts lying vacant in Telangana when 2.5 lakh posts are vacant in Karnataka. He claimed that the vacancies are the backlog from Siddaramaiah's previous CM tenure from 2013 to 2018.

"I recently had a KDP (Karnataka Development Programme) meeting in my constituency. In place of 28 to 30 agriculture officers and personnel needed in just one taluk office, there were three people running the show. This is the situation in just one taluk," Kumaraswamy said while speaking on unemployment in Karnataka.

He also ridiculed the Congress government on the guarantees it promised in Karnataka before the assembly elections. On the Shakti scheme to offer free bus rides to women in non-AC government buses, the former Karnataka CM said that the shortage of buses and staff makes him lower his head.

He further slammed Congress for promising Rs 4,000 for every woman heads of families in Telangana.

"Why you did not give Rs 4,000 to women head of the family here (in Karnataka)? They are expanding the scheme across the country. Yet they have not given even a single rupee to the 10 lakh eligible families," he said.

Kumaraswamy went on to claim that the Congress party failed to implement the Gruha Jyoti Scheme for 200 units of free electricity in Karnataka. "This is the state of Gruha Jyothi scheme. Mahadevappa and Kaka Patil who were promised 200 units free power are now living in the dark. There are many police stations which are operating in dark," the JD(S) Karnataka chief alleged.