A day after the Siddaramaiah-led government in Karnataka announced the constitution of a special committee to oversee the implementation of the five guarantee schemes (poll promises) that are believed to have helped the Congress capture power in the state in the May 2023 Assembly polls, the BJP has accused the ruling party of "misusing" the public funds.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, during a Lok Sabha poll preparation meeting held in Bengaluru on Wednesday, had announced that a Guarantee Scheme Implementation Committee (GSIC) would be formed at multiple levels—the state-level panel with a president, five vice-presidents and 31 members; the district-level committees with a president, a vice president and 21 members each and constituency-level committees with a president, vice president and 11 members each.
While the state-level president will enjoy cabinet rank, the five vice presidents will be in the rank of the minister of state. The chairpersons at district level will get an honorarium of Rs 50,000 every month while the presidents in each of the constituencies will get Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 monthly honorarium. The other members will be eligible for sitting fees.
The BJP slammed the move as a "burden" on the state exchequer and as an effort to "placate" the party workers ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Leader of the opposition in Assembly R. Ashoka said the Congress government had no money to compensate the farmers reeling under drought in the state but had the money to keep its followers in good humour.
"There is no need for a separate panel for implementing the schemes as we already have 34 cabinet ministers including the chief minister, economic and political advisors to the chief minister and district administration in the state for the task. As the government is burdened by the unscientific guarantee schemes, the panel will be an added burden. The chief minister is trying to placate the disgruntled MLAs and party workers ahead of the polls. He is misusing public money. The government has no funds for development work but has money to give cabinet rank to its party workers. The state coffers are not the property of the Congress party. If you cannot implement the guarantees through the administrative machinery, resign and go home," said Ashoka, adding that the proposed panel would cost Rs 150 crore annually considering that 3,000 to 5,000 party workers would be roped in for the committees.
"The Congress government has no money to give drought relief to the farmers but has Rs 150 crore to give Biryani (feast) to its chelas (followers). The government has released only Rs 100 crore to the farmers instead of Rs 4,000 crore as relief. But it is willing to spend 25 crore every year for the guarantee panel," mocked Ashok.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has stressed on the importance of the panel stating his government was spending Rs 38,000 crore for the guarantee schemes this year and as many as 1.20 crore families were availing financial assistance of Rs 4000 to Rs 5000 every month under the schemes.
Incidentally, the Congress government has implemented four of the five guarantee schemes - Shakti (free bus travel for women), Gruha Jyoti (free power up to 200 units), Anna Bhagya (free rice) and Gruha Lakshmi (Rs 2,000 monthly allowance to woman head of the family).
On January 12, 'Yuva Nidhi' - the last of the five poll guarantee schemes that provides a monthly unemployment benefit of Rs 3,000 to fresh graduates and Rs 1,500 to diploma holders would be launched at Shivamogga.
Former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai criticised the decision to accord cabinet rank to CM's advisors and the guarantee committee president and said, "There is a standing order stating the number of cabinet rank positions cannot exceed 15 per cent of the total strength of the Assembly. The decision of the government is anti-constitutional and violation of rules."
