Siddaramaiah Clarifies After MLA's 'Development Or Guarantees' Remark

Days after his close aide asked people to choose either election guarantees or development while hinting at a lack of funds, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said that there was "no question" of changing the guarantee programmes.

"There's no question of changing the guarantees programmes. It's for the poor from all communities and gives them economic and social security," he told reporters.

Siddaramaiah's economic adviser, Basavaraj Raya Reddy, on Saturday told a public rally to choose between election guarantees and development.

"Say I don't want rice or anything, if you say, "only build village roads", we will do that too. I will suggest Siddaramaiah stop it as people are asking us to, should I tell him?" he was heard saying in Kannada while addressing a gathering during the inauguration of a school building in his assembly constituency, Yelburga.

"If you want an asphalt road or a school, understand that everything can't be done at once. You need to make it clear, say you don't want these other benefits, stop all that. If you ask us to build roads, we will build roads. If you say, "Build temples", we'll build only temples. It is because we must manage everything with the funds available," Mr Reddy said while hinting at a fund crunch.

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Siddaramaiah, however, said the state government is giving funds to all the MLAs.

"This time, we are giving each MLA, even those from the Opposition, funds to build roads and bridges," the senior Congress leader said.

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The BJP seized on the opportunity to attack the Siddaramaiah-led government.

"I think the government is bankrupt now. They are neither giving (election) guarantees nor building roads. They are not doing any development works and are just involved in corruption," Union Minister Prahlad Joshi, who is a Member of Parliament from Karnataka's Dharwad, told reporters.