Yediyurappa advised to implement just two guarantees in first year, says Deputy CM

Deputy CM DK Shivakumar on Sunday said BJP's veteran leader BS Yediyurappa had advised him to implement just two election guarantees this year in a revelation that may embarrass the Opposition party.

Shivakumar, who is also the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), said the BJP leader told him it was enough to implement just two guarantees in the first year when he met him ahead of the swearing-in of the Congress regime in May.

He said okay to Yediyurappa with a smile before leaving his house, Shivakumar said speaking at the Indira Gandhi birth anniversary celebrations at the KPCC office.


"But we decided to implement all the five guarantees in the first Cabinet meeting itself. The government would implement the fifth guarantee of Yuvanidhi in December,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Deputy CM said, was fighting the assembly polls in five states by copying the Congress guarantees, he said.

The party would, later this month, form a committee to do a survey to assess the degree of success of the government's guarantees.

In his budget on July 7, chief minister Siddaramaiah renewed his party’s commitment to implement the five guarantees, which he said will touch about 13 million families. “This means we will be providing on an average additional financial assistance of Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 monthly to each household, which is about Rs 48,000 to Rs 60,000 every year.”



Karnataka has rolled out election promises of supply of free electricity of up to 200 units per month, free 10 kg rice per month, free bus rides for women, and Rs 2000 per month per woman head of a family. The government is preparing to implement the fifth guarantee of Rs 2000 monthly stipend to unemployed graduates and diploma holders.