Congress\' Praja Dhwani Yatra kicks off in Karnataka

Mangaluru: Kickstarting the Praja Dhwani Yatra in Karnataka, the Congress party has assured free 200-unit power to every house if voted to power in the forthcoming assembly election.

“Congress has worked for the common man and downtrodden. We have always fulfilled our promises. We want to remove darkness. After discussion, we have decided to provide 200-unit free power to every household in the state once we come to power in the state,” KPCC president DK Shivakumar declared at the Yatra.

This is said to be the first among the major announcements by Congress.

“People need not pay for the 200 units of electricity they use. This is a promise from Congress. We have always kept our promises and will do this time too,” he said.

The Praja Dhwani Yatra was inaugurated at Chikkodi in Belagavi district today and will cover various districts till January 28. The Yatra aims to cover 2 districts in a day.

Today’s event was led by AICC General Secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala, KPCC president DK Shivakumar, leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah and other leaders.

During their speech, the Congress leaders highlighted the corruption charges against the BJP government, the achievements of the Siddaramaiah government, and the failures of the BJP government in the state as well as in the Center.

“The Yatra will lend ears to the problem faced by the common man. We started this Yatra in Belagavi district- the place where Gandhiji had presided over the Congress Session in 1924 and vowed to oust the British from the country.

This marks the beginning of our fight,” Shivakumar said.

“In the last three and half years the BJP government has done nothing. They are playing with the life of the people. They conducted Operation Kamala and formed a government. This is a ‘B report government,’ where the Ministers who are accused in the case get a clean chit. It is a 40 percent commission government. They are involved in setting ablaze communal fire and poisoning the minds of people,” he alleged.

Former CM Siddaramaiah defined Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai as the weakest CM Karnataka ever had.

Congress is a party that follows what it says. We do not lie or cheat people. Whenever Congress came to power in Karnataka or the Centre the party worked for the poor, Dalit, backward, minority, farmers, and women. We have put our effort to strengthen them economically and socially,” Siddaramaiah said.

“Of the 165 promises we made; we had fulfilled 158. In addition, 30 new projects we had started. But three years ago BJP made a backdoor entry and gained power. They indulged in looting the state. Today they are in the sea of corruption. BJP had made 600 promises in the last election of which even 10 percent were not fulfilled,” he added.

Siddramaiah gave details of all the major unkept promises of the BJP.

In the manifesto, BJP had assured to waive off loans up to 1 lakh in society and banks which they never did. While Manmohan Singh had waived off 78 thousand crores, Modi has not done anything,” he added.

“Modi has assured that the farmers' income will be doubled. When we came to power in 2013 the average income of the farmers was Rs 48,000 which increased to Rs 1.13 lakh in five years. Today it is 1.16 lakh, an increase of a mere Rs 2,900,” Siddaramaiah said.

“BJP means factory of lies. Farmers, women, Dalits, backward class, minorities, and youth are cheated.

“Bommai is a puppet in the hands of the RSS. The weakest CM Karnataka ever had is Basavaraj Bommai,” he alleged.

Siddaramaiah assured to put an end to corruption if brought to power.

Speaking at the event, Randeep Surjewala defined the Bommai government as the most corrupt government in the country.

“There is corruption everywhere. This is 40 percent, Pay CM government. It is time to overthrow this government. Only then will Karnataka survive. From 2019 till today 1300 companies left Karnataka and 1 lakh people lost their jobs. As many as 17 govt companies are locked and 36 govt companies have a loss of Rs 6,000 crore,” he said.

While BJP is into Corruption, Commission, and Communalism, the Congress believes in Development, Development, and Development,” he added.