Freebies will stay as Cong wants to replicate ‘Karnataka model’ in other poll-bound states

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

With the Assembly elections due to be held in four states in the coming months, the Congress government in Karnataka is likely to be forced to continue all five guarantee schemes no matter whether it makes a deep hole in the state exchequer.

Congress leaders know well that the five guarantee schemes, a free ride for women in KSRTC buses, 200 units of power free to households, Rs 2000 per month for every woman head of the family, unemployment allowance of Rs 3000 for degree passed students and Rs 1,500 for diploma passed students and 10 kg of rice free for every BPL family, helped the party get the whopping 135 seats of the total 224 seats in the recent Assembly polls.

Buoyed by the tremendous success of the schemes, the High Command has decided to adopt the ‘Karnataka model’ in other poll-bound states to woo voters. As per Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, it would cost around Rs 60,000 crore every year to implement all the five guarantee schemes in the State. That means the Congress Government will have to spend Rs 3 lakh crore on these schemes in the next five years. Highly placed sources told News Trail that the Congress High Command has asked Siddaramaiah to implement all five schemes till the Assembly elections in four states to be held later this year and also till the crucial Lok Sabha polls to be held in April/May next year.

It is learnt that the chief minister has told the high command that these schemes cannot be implemented for a long period because of their impact on the development of the State. Since Karnataka is one of the fastest growing states in the country and a leading contributor to GST, it would be improper to spend Rs 60,000 crore every year on freebies instead of development works.

Already, 9 crore women have travelled free in 18 days costing the State Transport Corporations Rs 222 crore. The government has to reimburse that money to the corporations failing which it would be left with nothing to buy diesel for the buses and to pay the salary of its employees.

To mop up resources to adjust the money for these guarantee schemes, the government has to increase taxes on other goods and services which would anger those who are not the beneficiaries of these schemes. Already, the government has hiked the power tariff, and water taxes and is all set to hike the milk prices soon.

The people are waiting for the state budget to be presented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on July 7 to know about the imposition of new taxes. Already, the Rajasthan Congress Government has announced an LPG cylinder at Rs 500 for every family and Rs 1,500 for every woman head of the family. Some more schemes are likely to be rolled out in the coming days.