BJP party of lies, Congress coming to power in Karnataka: Ashok Gehlot

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a party of lies. He said that they (BJP leaders) make false promises to grab power but never fulfil those commitments, adding that the BJP misguides people in the name of religion.

Addressing media persons in Bengaluru ahead of the state assembly elections, Gehlot took a swipe at prime minister Narendra Modi saying the PM in 2014 made a number of accusations against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government such as the 2G spectrum or coal gate scam to taint the image of the then ruling government.

BJP also made promises of 20 million jobs and Rs. 15 lakh in bank accounts, but these promises remain empty, alleged Gehlot.

Gehlot claimed that the BJP is losing and the Congress will come to power in Karnataka. “Congress’ win in Karnataka will be in the interest of the country,” he said.

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He said that the time has come to strengthen the governance of the states. “In the last five years, Rajasthan was given ₹76,000 crore less of the state dues…such bias should not happen. We will bring such issues in front of the public.”

He continued, “Their (BJPs) model of governance is to topple the elected governments be it Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and even Rajasthan, but despite several attempts, they have failed. They lost the money they invested in trying to topple the Congress government in Rajasthan.”

Lauding the schemes introduced in Rajasthan, Gehlot said, “We urge the PM that the way UPA government brought RTI, RTE, MNREGA etc, he should also bring right to social security.”

Gehlot further claimed that the Congress government have always delivered on its promises. “We fulfil our promises and today Rajasthan has become a model state in which every family has health insurance of ₹25 lakh under the Chiranjeevi scheme.”

He said that even the Karnataka government sent a team to Rajasthan to understand the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in the state.

The BJP-led Karnataka government in March this year sent a team to Rajasthan to learn about the implementation of the OPS as Karnataka appears to be willing to implement OPS.

The Rajasthan government had last year given an option to all government employees whether they want to continue with the market-based New Pension Scheme or revert to OPS, which provides for an assured pension. Close to 99% of the employees opted for OPS.

“Wherever the Congress government will be formed, the Rajasthan model will be implemented to take care of all sections of the society,” Gehlot said while speaking about Congress guarantees for Karnataka polls.

Recently during a rally in Karnataka, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi promised to raise the wages of Anganwadi and ASHA workers if voted to power in the state.

Elaborating on Rajasthan government schemes, Gehlot said, the state has started inflation relief camps, where every household is being given a cooking gas cylinder for ₹500. “In Rajasthan, 76 lakh households are getting the cylinder for ₹500,” he said.

Also Read: Will raise Anganwadi, ASHA staff’s pay if voted to power in K’taka, says Cong

He added that families in Rajasthan were getting free 10 kg rice under the Annapurna ration kit. The Rajasthan chief minister also spoke about the urban employment guarantee programme in which the state government would every year provide work for 125 days to the poor.

“Rajasthan is the only state where registration of the FIR by the deprived sections has been made mandatory,” Gehlot said. He pointed out that the state government has provided ₹200 crore welfare fund for gig workers, who are in large numbers in urban places in Bengaluru and Mangaluru.

Gehlot said that people should think of a government that provides free education, free health services and free ration while giving their votes instead of a government that takes 40% commission.