Senior Karnataka Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Friday said he was "100 per cent" confident of his party coming back to power in the 2023 assembly polls in Karnataka.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly also seemingly indicated his ambition to become the chief minister once again as he declared that on coming back to power he will provide 10 kg rice per head to the poor for free.
"... elections will come in two years and we will come to power and we will do your work... there is no doubt about it. Hundred per cent we will come back," Mr Siddaramaiah said.
Speaking at an event in Mysuru, he hit out at the BJP government for reducing the quantity of free rice provided to the poor from seven kg that was announced during his tenure as chief Minister, to five.
"They (BJP) have reduced it to 5 kg and I got to know that they will further reduce it to 3 kg. Can those who do injustice to the poor be tolerated?... So, once our government comes back to power, I will give 10 kg rice per head to the poor. Let it cost how much ever, money is not a matter," he declared.
Siddaramaiah served as the chief minister from May 2013 to May 2018 during which the Anna Bhagya scheme was a populist programme under which seven kg of rice is provided for free to every member of "Below Poverty Line" households.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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