Congress firm on implementing all its assurances: D.K. Shivakumar

MANGALURU

All assurances made by the Congress during the Prajadhwani Yatra will be implemented if the party comes to power in the State, said Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar here on Sunday.

Addressing the party convention at Karavali Grounds as part of the yatra, which entered the city in the evening, Mr. Shivakumar said former CM Siddaramaiah fulfilled all the promises when he completed his term in May 2018.

On the criticism by Energy Minister V. Sunil Kumar on the Congress assuring 200 units of free power, Mr. Shivakumar said, “We know how to govern. We will give free power and also put ₹2,000 in the account of each woman head of the family every month. Poor families will get 10 kg rice,” he said. The ruling BJP government has so far fulfilled only 50 of the 600 assurances it made earlier, he said.

Expressing confidence of winning over 140 seats in the coming Assembly elections, Mr. Shivakumar asked party workers to work hard for victory of the party candidates.

AICC General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjiwala said there cannot be scope for communal feeling to breed in the coastal region, which has been a land of brotherhood. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and other BJP party leaders encouraged communal hatred. “If we speak about about inflation, the BJP takes up communally sensitive issues. If we speak about unemployment, (State BJP president) Nalin Kumar Kateel speaks about love jihad. We are for brotherhood, BJP is for dividing society on communal lines,” he said.

Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, MLC B.K. Hariprasad, former Home Minister G .Parameshwara, Mangaluru MLA U.T. Khader, former Mangaluru City South MLA J.R. Lobo, and ‘former MLC Ivan D’Souza also spoke. The convention was inaugurated by senior party leader B. Janardhana Poojary.