Rahul Gandhi Promises Rs 1 Crore For Each Karnataka Village Panchayat

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday promised allocation of Rs one crore for each village panchayat, and Rs 5,000 crore for the Kalyana Karnataka region if his party is voted to power in the May 10 State Assembly polls.

The former Congress chief also promised to set up an apparel park in Ballari with an investment of Rs 5,000 crore.

Amid rains, he addressed an election rally at Jevargi in Kalaburagi district, where he promised to fill 50,000 government job vacancies. "We will allocate Rs 5,000 crore for this region. Each village panchayat will get Rs one crore," a drenched Mr Gandhi said.

The Kalyana Karnataka region comprises the districts of Bidar, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, Kalaburagi, Ballari and Vijayanagara.

At Ballari, it was his promise to set up an apparel park and not that of the Congress, he said, adding that he would ensure that the district became the number one 'jeans hub' in the world.

"This is my promise to make Ballari a 'jeans capital'. I want to see the day when whoever wears jeans will have 'Made in Ballari' written on it," Mr Gandhi said.

Criticising the ruling party, he said Ballari was at the centre of the '40 per cent theft' and the "amount of theft BJP did in Ballari, no one else would have ever done here".

"This theft caused enormous loss to the people of Ballari. Now the major change will happen here. Not just in elections but in your life," Mr Gandhi added.

He also made a 'prophecy' that the ruling BJP would get only 40 seats "since it loves this number".

Mr Gandhi alleged that BJP ministers in Karnataka collected 40 per cent commission for public works from contractors and, hence, the party would not get more than 40 seats, while the Congress would win 150 seats and form the next government.

Calling the incumbent BJP government "a government by theft", he said the ruling party had purchased MLAs from opposition ranks.
"We are going to form the government. No one can stop our party from coming to power," Mr Gandhi said.

He also reiterated the four key "guarantees" of the Congress: Rs 2,000 to woman head of families, 200 units of free power to every household, Rs 3,000 to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18 to 25 years) for two years, and 10 kg rice to every member of a BPL family a month.

Apart from this, Mr Gandhi also announced the party's fifth "guarantee" on Thursday: free bus ride for women in public transport buses.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)