"This Is People's Money": Congress Chief's Son On Party's 5 Poll Guarantees

Referring to the five poll guarantees of the Congress party, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Friday said that even if one rupee is to be spent out of tax money paid by people, it should be done after setting proper criteria in front of the people.

The Minister of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department was speaking before the cabinet meeting regarding the implementation of the guarantee schemes in Vidhan Soudha.

While speaking to ANI, he said, "This is people's money, tax money paid by people, even if one rupee is to be spent, it should be put in front of the people and the criteria should be set and spent".

He added that the decisions will be completed soon and guarantee plans will be implemented.

"It is true that the financial burden will fall from the implementation of five guarantees, but we will show how the Congress is able to convert the impossible into possible," he said.

Priyank Kharge further reiterated that no project can exist without "standards", this is people's money and tax money paid by people.

"Show me a single scheme, whether it is from the central government or state government, that runs without any criteria. We will frame the conditions and terms. No project is a free for all. Even if one rupee has to be spent, it should be put in front of people. The standards should be prepared. We will implement guarantee schemes with certain criteria," he said.

Labor Minister Santosh Lad told the reporters that discussion is underway and all the information will be given after two to three hours.

Notably, a cabinet meeting is being held on Friday under the leadership of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah regarding the implementation of the five guarantees promised by the party during the elections.

As per the sources, the cabinet will give a green signal for the implementation of three guarantee schemes on Friday itself. However, there will be a discussion in the Cabinet about the conditions, and compliance with various criteria.

It will be followed by the official order that will come for the implementation of the guarantee schemes. The offering plan is likely to be announced on Independence Day, the sources added.

The five 'main' guarantees promised by the party in its poll manifesto are -- 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti); Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi); 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya); Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (Yuva Nidhi) and free travel for women in public transport buses (Uchita Prayana).

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