Rahul Gandhi takes freebies ride for Karnataka poll

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, March 20: Stepping up Congress campaign for the Karnataka Assembly elections, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday announced that the party if elected to form a government in the state would give Rs 3000 a month to each of the graduates and Rs 1500 per month to the diploma holders as part of the ‘Yuva Nidhi’ scheme. Congress in Karnataka already has announced a slew of poll promises, which include Rs 2000 per month for women and 300 units of free electricity.

Gandhi addressed Congress’ ‘Yuva Kranti’ rally in Belagavi in North Karnataka, which is known to be the key catchment area of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Congress chief Mallikarjuna Kharge also addressed the rally. The Congress rally came amid the carpet-bombing of rallies and roadshows by the BJP mascots such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah and the party chief JP Nadda in the poll bound Karnataka.

The BJP is now faced with the challenge to counter the aggressive poll promises being made by Congress. On the lines of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, the ruling BJP is unlikely to enter into a competitive populism aftet Modi sought to set the national narrative against freebies, calling them ‘revdi ki rajneeti’.

Yet, the BJP government in Karnataka in the state budget unveiled a few weeks ago committed to hike the monthly support to landless women from Rs 500 a month to Rs 1000. Other than this, the BJP has note unveiled direct cash transfer scheme other than programmes which are being run by the Central government for senior citizens, handicapped, scholarships, etc.

Congress has also promised to bring ‘Anna Bhagya Yojna’ under which the people will get 10 kg rice each month. The Siddaramaiah government in the past had also announced the same scheme, but the quantum of grains was reduced to 5 kg.

While the BJP is not getting into freebies, the Basavaraj Bommai government in Karnataka is seen pushing for saturation of several welfare schemes which are meant to deliver subsidies to targeted population for scholarships, housing, potable water, toilets, etc. While Congress had also gone big on freebies in Gujarat elections, the Opposition party was disappointed with the poll outcome. However, Congress had wrested power in Himachal Pradesh by making similar poll promises.