Bengaluru, May 26 (IANS) Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, R. Ashoka, on Tuesday criticised the Karnataka government over its proposed “re-verification”, “re-registration” and “special drive” for beneficiaries of welfare guarantee schemes.

In a statement, Ashoka questioned the intent behind the exercise and alleged, “The Congress government, which until now beat the drum over its guarantee schemes, has suddenly started a new drama in the name of beneficiary re-verification, re-registration and special campaigns.”

Raising a series of questions to the government, Ashoka said removing the names of deceased persons from beneficiary lists was a routine administrative process and did not require a “special campaign”.

He further questioned why poor people were allegedly being asked to undergo fresh registration procedures and stand in queues again to apply for benefits.

“What is the real intention of the state government? Is this a prelude to gradually discontinuing the schemes? Or is there a hidden plan to continue payments only till the local body and GBA elections, and later deny benefits by claiming names are missing from the list?” he asked.

The BJP leader also voiced concerns over whether payments under schemes such as Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, Shakti and Yuva Nidhi would be affected during the re-verification process.

He demanded that the Congress government provide clear answers on whether the guarantee schemes would continue in the future, whether funds would be released to beneficiaries during the re-registration process, how many people the government intended to remove from beneficiary lists, and whether the schemes would continue even after local body elections.

Ashoka further accused the government of “playing politics with the lives and self-respect of the poor”.

“Winning votes in the name of guarantees and then treating the very same people as suspects after coming to power is a grave insult to 7.5 crore Kannadigas, especially self-respecting women of Karnataka,” he said.

On possible revisions to guarantee schemes, Deputy Chief Minister and State Congress President, D.K. Shivakumar, stated that the government was reviewing beneficiary records after discovering misuse.

–IANS

mka/rad