BJP demand for implementation of poll guarantees ‘political gimmick’: CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa has “no moral rights” to call for protests demanding that the Congress government implement its poll guarantees and termed it as a “political gimmick”.

Noting that the Congress has fulfilled the poll promises while in power in the past, he said, this time too it has already taken a decision to implement five “guarantees” announced in the election manifesto.

“What moral right he (Yediyurappa) has? He was the President of the party, then he became the Chief Minister, did he implement the promises made in the (BJP) manifesto? No, when such being the case, what moral right does he have? He has no moral rights,” Siddaramaiah said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, “as far as the Congress party is concerned, we have implemented all the promises we had made in the 2013 manifesto (while in power from 2013-18), now we have made a promise to implement five guarantees, we have already taken a decision to implement all of them.”

“Whatever Mr Yediyurappa is doing is only a political gimmick,” he added.

Announcing that BJP will hold protests both inside and outside the Assembly during legislature session, demanding the Congress government in the state to implement its poll guarantees, Yediyurappa on Sunday said he will lead agitations in front of Gandhi statue at Vidhana Soudha, from July four. The Legislature Session is scheduled from July 3 to 14, which will also see the new government tabling a fresh budget.

While the government has already launched the scheme which will provide free travel for women in public transport buses, the other four schemes are in various stages of implementation, and the timeline has already been fixed for their rollout.