Mangaluru: Former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram appealed to the people of Karnataka to vote for Congress and give it a clear and absolute majority to give a stable government that can steer Karnataka forward on the path of sustained development.
He identified two challenges that plague the next government in Karnataka. The first challenge being maintaining the pace of development and the second is “to boldly confront the RSS-BJP dispensation and designs to wreak the federal system, weaken state governments, and impose their pernicious agenda of one history, one culture, one religion, one language and one code of behaviour.”
For this reason, he said that hopes and aspirations of the people of India were riding on the voters of Karnataka, even though it was just an election for a state legislature.
Claiming that the numbers tell a story better than words, Chidambaram summarised the achievements of Siddaramaiah government. “During the period 2013-14, Karnataka’s Gross State Domestic Product at constant prices has increased from Rs 6,43,292 Crore to Rs 9,49,111 Crore. This is the real GDP growth of 8 percent”, he said about the economic growth in Karnataka.
Citing the increase of per capita income at current prices in the state, he said that the average resident in Karnataka was richer than he was 5 years ago by about 125 percent. He claimed that this growth was way higher than the all India per capita GDP growth of 59% in the same period.
He compared the unemployment rates in India , Karnataka and Gujarat. “Unemployment in Karnataka is amongst the lowest in all the states of the country. In April 2018, it was 2.6 percent. The all India number is 5.9 percent and Gujarat is 5 percent,” he added.
Claiming that Karnataka had an “enviable macro economic record”, Chidambaram said, “In all the 5 years of the Congress government, the average fiscal deficit was 2.26%. On the revenue account, the average revenue surplus was 0.08 percent. Under Siddaramaiah, development and welfare have gone hand in hand. Even while the GDP was growing at 8 percent, social sector expenditure consistently accounted for over 40% of total expenditure.”
According to Chidambaram, these achievements were possible because the state has had a stable government under one chief minister. “I want to recall to the people of Karnataka that Siddaramaiah is the first CM who has completed 5 years in office after 5he legendary CM Devaraj Urs,” he added.
Chidambaram claimed BJP government in the state in 2008-13 as “the worst government in the history of Karnataka.”He said, “Same incompetent men and women – Yeddyurappa, Sadananda Gowda, Jagadish Shettar – are leading the BJP today.”
Coming to the defense of CM Siddaramaiah against BJP’s attacks, Chidambaram claimed that the BJP leaders were refraining from speaking about their achievements as they had nothing to talk about. “They talk about the alleged shortcomings of Siddaramaiah’s chief ministership. Just as Siddaramaiah speaks about his record, why don’t Yeddyurappa, Sadananda Gowda or Jagadish Shettar meention their achievement as chief ministers. The answer is that they have no achievements to speak about,” he added.
