JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy (Twitter/@hd_kumaraswamy)
Kumaraswamy said a chief minister should not belong to any one community but should work to improve the lives of all the 6.5 crore people of the state.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday admitted that the five ‘guarantees’ of the Congress “luded” people in the May 10 assembly elections, and not the ‘pancharatna’ program promised by his party Janata Dal (Secular). To.
Speaking about the demand of various communities that the chief minister should be from among them, Kumaraswamy said that a chief minister should not belong to any one community, but should work to improve the lives of all the 6.5 crore people of the state.
He also said that he would like to see how Congress would implement those plans and the conditions attached to receive the benefits.
“The Pancharatna scheme that we had promised and the efforts I made day and night for six months to popularize it could not attract people. People can be attracted towards those small guarantee schemes (Congress guarantee schemes) of Rs 2,000,” Kumaraswamy told reporters here.
The Pancharatna Yojana was a five-pronged program related to education, health, housing, farmers’ welfare and employment.
The JD(S) won just 19 seats in the 224-member assembly, compared to 37 in the previous elections in 2018.
Speaking about the success of Congress’ five ‘guarantees’, the JD(S) number two leader said, “We will have to see.” Aren’t the people who prepare these plans more experienced than me? They must have done some calculations.” The Congress has promised 200 units of free electricity to all households and Rs 2,000 per month to women heads of households, among other promises.
Referring to the election results, Kumaraswamy said that “such poor results” were not unexpected for his party. In 1999, former prime minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda lost two places and the party won only 10 seats, but five years later it bounced back with 58 seats.
“The same people who gave this mandate (this 2023 election) will ask for JD(S) in the days to come. That’s why I am hopeful.
Asked about the results in JD(S) bastion Mandya district, where the party won only one seat out of seven, Kumaraswamy said the BJP wanted to “finish off” his party.
He alleged, “Under this, a river of money was flowed due to which we lost.”
On the demand by Vokkaliga community leaders to make Vokkaliga the chief minister, the JD(S) leader said the saints might have said it out of love.
He said, ‘They (saints) said this because they wanted someone from their community to become the chief minister. I will not call it wrong but one thing I would like to say that when people talk about their caste then caste struggle will go on. This is my opinion,” Kumaraswamy said.
“A chief minister should not belong to a community. He should provide leadership that can improve the lives of 6.5 crore people.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI,