‘Stop two guarantees’: Congress MLA’s comment leaves govt red-faced

Bengaluru: Congress lawmaker H R Gaviyappa left his party’s government embarrassed after publicly asking Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to drop at least two of the five ‘guarantee’ schemes to provide money for development works, such as housing.

An angry Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said he would ask Gaviyappa to explain while warning the lawmakers of disciplinary action if they make such statements on the government’s flagship ‘guarantee’ schemes.

Gaviyappa’s comments on the guarantee schemes, while speaking at a local event in his Vijayanagar (Hospet) constituency a couple of days ago, went viral on Tuesday.

“Due to the guarantee schemes, we are facing difficulty in providing housing. We are asking the chief minister to remove any two guarantee schemes that are not needed, like the one in which people travel (for free) in buses. Let’s see what the chief minister decides,” Gaviyappa is heard saying.

Gaviyappa also told reporters that his constituency is not getting enough funds.

“The previous BJP MLA did much work, which continues to this day. I want to also do some work. But I don’t have funds. I’m unable to answer people. Other segments get Rs 70-80 crore. I should get at least Rs 30 crore. But I’m getting only Rs 10 crore. How can I run my constituency?” he said.

Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress president, lashed out at Gaviyappa.

“I’ll ask (Gaviyappa) to explain. There is no question of changing or withdrawing any guarantee. We are spending Rs 56,000 crore and each constituency is getting Rs 250 crore a year. Isn’t this development? What MLAs are asking for...we’ll provide that, too. No MLA should speak (like) this. Otherwise, we’ll take disciplinary action,” Shivakumar said.

Gaviyappa’s comments came at a time when the Congress credited the guarantees for winning three bypolls - Channapatna, Shiggaon and Sandur.

During the day, plausibly after being pulled up, Gaviyappa made a U-turn and claimed that he never said anything about the guarantees.

“It’s because of the guarantees that we won the three bypolls,” he told reporters.