Bengaluru, Jan 23 (IANS) Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Food H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday appealed to women not to be lured by the Rs 2,000 monthly assistance for woman heads under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme and urged them to give him five years, stating that the guarantees offered by the Congress-led government are not a permanent solution to their lives.

He appealed to them not to fall victim to what he described as the Congress-led government’s deception.

Speaking after inaugurating the newly constructed Adishakti Sri Maramma Amma Temple at Ragimuddenahalli village in the Tumakuru Rural Assembly constituency, Kumaraswamy said the five guarantees offer only temporary relief and serve no real purpose.

“For these guarantees, the government is spending Rs 50,000 crore every year. It is giving back the same tax money that you pay. In return, it is borrowing between Rs 1 lakh crore and Rs 1.25 lakh crore annually. Those who gave these guarantees will not repay this debt; you will have to repay it,” he said.

He alleged that the government has turned the entire state into a flood of liquor, claiming that alcohol is available even in grocery shops in villages. He accused the government of issuing CL-7 liquor licences on a large scale and pointed out that excise officials were recently caught while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2.5 crore to issue such a licence.

“What is the use of making your husbands addicted to alcohol, ruining their lives, and then giving you Rs 2,000 under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme? They are taking your money and returning only a small portion of it to you. Please do not be tempted by Rs 2,000. Give us one chance for five years,” he appealed.

Kumaraswamy said he had come close to death five times and believes he is alive only due to God’s blessings. “Give us one opportunity. You will see five years of good governance. This will not be a JD(S)-BJP government, but a government of 6.5 crore Kannadigas,” he said.

Recalling his tenure as Chief Minister, he said he had served the people without betraying them and worked in a manner that satisfied his conscience. He claimed he was unable to hand over power to the BJP due to the conspiracies of others and not because of his own mistakes.

“When I got the opportunity, I did substantial work. I implemented loan waivers in both my terms. It is wrong to say the Centre does not cooperate. Everything depends on our conduct. When I waived loans twice, I did not look to the Centre. I paid from the state treasury. This government points fingers at the Centre for everything. That is not right,” he said.

Tumakuru Rural MLA Suresh Gowda, Turuvekere MLA M.T. Krishnappa, former MLAs Ningappa and Suresh Gowda from Nagamangala, and JD(S) leaders Nagaraju, Ugraesh, Ravikumar, Jagadish and Dr Ravi, among others, were present at the event.

Meanwhile, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, speaking to the media, stated that his father would return to state politics. He said discussions were underway about Kumaraswamy becoming the Chief Minister once again and asserted that his return to state politics was inevitable.

Nikhil said that the policies and programmes implemented by Kumaraswamy during his tenure as Chief Minister are still widely discussed. After witnessing the two-and-a-half years of governance by the Congress-led government, people now feel that Kumaraswamy should have continued as the Chief Minister, he added.

“People are vouching for him. I have travelled across 52 constituencies, and in all those constituencies, people are talking about it. I am one hundred per cent sure that Kumaranna (Kumaraswamy) will return to state politics at the appropriate time. In 2028, the JD(S) will go to the polls under the leadership of Kumaraswamy,” Nikhil stated.

–IANS

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