Guarantee schemes to continue after LS polls, clarifies Siddaramaiah, after MLA’s comments receive flak

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday clarified that the government would not, at any cost, stop the five guarantee schemes after reports emerged of plans to discontinue with them in the event of a setback to the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

“This are all pro-poor programmes and will continue,” the CM told media persons after a Congress leader’s comments sparked concerns of the government’s discontinuing with the programmes if the Congress does not win a lion’s share of 28 Lok Sabha seats.

Congress MLA from Magadi HC Balakrishna addressing a meeting had said the Congress might stop the schemes if voters were not to support it in the ensuing polls.


Deputy CM DK Shivakumar denied that the MLA made any such statement and accused the Opposition BJP of spreading the rumour that the schemes would stop after the election.

The BJP, putting out a clip of the MLA’s comments, said eight months after failing to implement the guarantees, the Congress govt was threatening to cancel them if the party was not voted to power.

“Failing to fulfil promises, Congress now resorts to blackmailing voters. Siddaramaiah-led Congress has finally accepted that they lied and misled Kannadigas before elections with these false guarantees,” the party posted on social media platform X. “The only Guarantee is that Congress will be decimated by the people of Karnataka in the coming days.”

The party has rolled out schemes to provide up to 200 units of free electricity every month, free bus travel for women across Karnataka, allowances to unemployed graduates and diploma holders, 10 kg of free rice to low-income families and Rs 2000 monthly allowance to families led by women.

The CM is confident of the Congress winning 15-20 seats in the LS polls while the BJP is claiming it would retain all 25 seats it currently holds.