Congress' revadi politics bleeding Karnataka: BJP

The BJP on Thursday claimed that the Karnataka finance department has expressed its inability to provide additional grant for payment of wages and fuel prices, wondering if the ruling Congress would now pay for the free bus rides from its pocket. Posting a copy of the purported letter of the state finance department on Twitter, BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya said, "Revdi politics is bleeding Karnataka already."

"The government of Karnataka's Finance Department informs RTCs (road transport corporations), including KSRTC (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation) and BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation), that it cannot provide additional grant for payment of wages and fuel expenditure," he said.

"Will Congress now pay for the promised free bus rides from its pocket?" Malaviya asked.


There was no immediate reaction from the Karnataka government on the BJP's claim.

The scheme was launched on June 11 by Karnataka CM Siddarammaiah.

The upsurge in the usage of 'Shakti' scheme continued for the third consecutive day with 51.53 lakh women travelling free in non-premium buses of the state-run road transport corporations on Tuesday incurring an expenditure of Rs 10.82 crore to the state exchequer. On the third day of the scheme, rolled out on Sunday, 20.57 lakh took a free ride in Bengaluru city buses, which cost the government Rs 2.02 crore, according to official figures.

However, the state government made maximum spending of Rs 4.12 crore on 13.98 lakh women who travelled in the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses.

As many as 11.09 lakh women travelled in the North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (Rs 2.72 crore).

There were 5.89 lakh women passengers using Shakti scheme in the Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation, (Rs 1.95 crore).

In just three days since the launch of Shakti scheme -- a key pre-election promise of the Congress -- in the state, 98,58,518 women travelled free in state buses which has cost the state exchequer Rs 21.06 crore.