I do not expect BJP to come to a public debate on development works in Karnataka: CM
When asked if he expected the BJP leaders to take part in a debate, Mr. Siddaramaiah said he had invited them several times earlier also. 'People who lie do not come,' he said, dubbing the BJP leaders as 'liars'.
However, the Chief Minister said he was ready to participate in the debate if the BJP leaders came forward.
The Congress government organised a convention in Vijayanagar earlier this year to mark two years of its rule in the State, he said, adding that the 'BJP's lies' about the State government were exposed with more than two lakh people participating in the programme.
The State government was spending ₹52,000 crore every year on the guarantee programmes. He said the BJP, which criticises the State government, had copied its guarantee programmes in other States.
GST WOES OF SMALL TRADERS
With regard to complaints of small traders receiving notices from the Commercial Taxes Department for transactions through UPI, Mr. Siddaramaiah said his government will discuss the matter with the Centre and the department and will make a decision.
He said Goods and Sales Tax (GST) Council does not come under the State government. However, the government will take up the matter with the Union government and discuss it with the State's Commercial Taxes Department.
When asked about the invitation extended by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's son and Minister for Information and Technology Nara Lokesh to companies to invest in their State following Karnataka government's decision to drop notification for land acquisition in Devanahalli, Mr. Siddaramaiah expressed confidence that no company will leave Karnataka.
'We did not say that we will not give land to investors. We will give land. No industry will leave Karnataka,' Mr. Siddaramaiah said, ruling out any capital flight from Karnataka despite the 'politics' played by Mr. Naidu and his son.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
25 minutes ago
- Hans India
BRS Gadwal In-Charge Basu Hanumanthu Naidu Slams Congress Over Kaleshwaram Report, Calls It a Political Vendetta
Gadwal: The Kaleshwaram Commission report is part of a politically motivated vendetta jointly carried out by the Congress and BJP parties, said Basu Hanumanthu Naidu, BRS Party in-charge for Gadwal constituency. He made these remarks after attending a live screening of the PowerPoint presentation delivered by former minister T. Harish Rao on the Kaleshwaram issue. The session was organized on Tuesday at the BRS District Office in Gadwal, where Basu Hanumanthu Naidu, along with party leaders and cadres, watched Harish Rao's presentation—broadcast from the Telangana Bhavan, Hyderabad—on an LED screen. The presentation addressed what the BRS party claims are false allegations made by the Congress government about corruption in the Kaleshwaram Project. Speaking on the occasion, Basu Hanumanthu Naidu stated that Harish Rao 'broke the lies into pieces' with factual clarity. He accused the Congress of proving the saying 'one lie leads to a thousand lies.' Referring to Congress' earlier claims of ₹1 lakh crore corruption in the Kaleshwaram project, he criticized them for fabricating new lies to back their initial baseless claims after coming into power. 'No matter how many commissions you set up, how many investigations you conduct, or how many hundreds of pages you publish in your reports, the BRS party is ready to face all of it,' he asserted. He added that what the Congress government failed to achieve in 60 years, KCR accomplished in just three years by completing the Kaleshwaram Project and bringing water to drought-hit fields. 'No amount of fake documentation can erase this truth,' he emphasized. The event saw participation from a large number of BRS leaders and supporters, including Nagar Doddi Venkata Ramulu, Chakradhar Rao, G. Raghavendra Reddy, Angadi Basavaraj, Patel Janardhan Reddy, Atukuri Rehman, Monesh, Kottapalli Venkateshwara Reddy, Beechupalli Kurava Palleiah, S. Ramu Naidu, Ganjipeta Raju, Venkatesh Naidu, Tower Mukbal, Mahadevappa, D. Shekhar Naidu, Rayapuram Veeresh, Govindu, Maddileti, Rajini Babu, Muni Mourya, Rolli Krishna, Kangaru Thimmappa, Abraham, Anji, Govardhan, Obulesh, Ramudu, Venkatesh, Thimmappa, Gonupadu Ramu, Nagaraju, Anjaneyulu, along with several party leaders, workers, youth members, and supporters.
The Hindu
25 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Congress leaders in New Delhi to expedite reorganisation process
Congress leaders in Kerala made a beeline for New Delhi on Tuesday to enlist the help of the national leadership in streamlining the party's much-delayed reorganisation ahead of the local body elections later in the year. A triad headed by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph, MLA, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, and United Democratic Front (UDF) convener Adoor Prakash held marathon meetings with MPs from Kerala, reportedly to ease purported intra-party tensions over recasting district congress committees (DCCs). KPCC working presidents were also involved in the discussions, along with a few select general secretaries. According to a Congress insider, the KPCC aims to replace at least eight DCC presidents, prioritising community, caste, and age demographics, as well as efficiency, over factional considerations. However, he claimed that some tension loomed over the reorganisation process, with a few leaders questioning the wisdom of changing 'entrenched' DCC presidents, including a few of their loyalists, when the local body polls were at the doorstep. 'The KPCC leadership will likely focus on bringing sceptical MPs on board to broadcast a message of unity to flip the script on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the local body elections projected to be a three-cornered fight,' he said. The leadership meeting also occurs amid intra-party criticism, recently voiced by Congress veteran P.J. Kurien, among others, that, apart from the bluster of young leaders, the party lacked boots on the ground for door-to-door campaigns to ensure pro-party voter turnout. Mr Kurien also pointed out that the Congress lacked ward committees in several regions. Mr. Satheesan rubbished reports that dissent plagued the reorganisation process. Mr. Joseph said the reorganisation would make the Congress election machinery battle-ready. He refused to set a deadline for the process. When asked whether MPs had suggested any particular names for DCC president posts in their respective constituencies, Mr. Joseph said there was 'no dearth of names for leadership roles in the Congress. We are hoping to strike a balance between youthfulness and experience,' he added.
The Hindu
25 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Transport workers' stir triggers political slugfest between CM and LoP in Karnataka
The Tuesday protest by the public transport employees triggered a slugfest between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) R. Ashok, with the latter blaming the former for the situation. The Chief Minister launched a counterattack, blaming Mr. Ashok, who earlier handled the transport portfolio in the erstwhile BJP government, for failing to resolve the problems of transport workers back then. It all began with Mr. Ashok blaming the 'misrule' of the Chief Minister and the State's 'financial bankruptcy' as the reasons for the transport workers going on a strike, and demanding the Chief Minister's resignation. 'Save Karnataka and allow Kannadigas to live in peace by tendering resignation to your post,' Mr. Ashok said in a social media post. This Chief Minister shot back, saying it was when Mr. Ashok was the Transport Minister that the transport staff had gone on a 15-day strike as they were not being paid their salaries fully then. Unlike the Congress government that had implemented a pay hike with retrospective effect, the erstwhile BJP government had resorted to prospective revision for them, he said. He further alleged that the recruitment of staff and purchase of new buses had been stopped during the BJP rule, while a financial burden of ₹5,900 crore towards various expenses, including pending diesel bills, had been passed on to the next government. However, the Congress that came to power had appointed 10,000 staff and included 5,200 new buses to the fleet, he said. He alleged that the BJP dispensation had borrowed ₹2,000 crore to pay for diesel bills and Provident Fund of the staff, but left the loan repayment to the Congress government. Mr. Siddaramaiah urged Mr. Ashok to remember the 'injustice' done by the BJP dispensation to transport workers before pointing an accusing finger at the Congress government.
