Dark side of freebie politics! K'taka MLA threatens voters of scraping '5 promises' if they don't vote Cong in LS Polls

A massive shocker cropped up in Karnataka when a Congress MLA warned the voters of scrapping the promised guarantees if people don"t vote for the party.

NewsBharati 31-Jan-2024 12:33:45 PM

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Threatening the voters and asking them to vote or else they will have to pay for it is the old tactic of the Sonia Gandhi-led-congress government. This time the cameras have caught the Congress's tactik. The shocker cropped up when a ruling Congress legislator was caught threatening the voters of scrapping the promised guarantees if people didn't vote for the party in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The latest incident took place in Karnataka. In a video which has gone viral on social media, Congress MLA HC Balakrishna asked the public to vote for Congress MP DK Suresh during the People Connect programme in Magadi, Ramanagar district. He further asked people whether they wanted development or a temple (referring to Ram Mandir's inauguration).

"Is your vote for grains of rice (Akshat used for Ram Mandir) or guarantees? I have spoken to the CM Siddaramaiah and DyCM DK Shivakuamr and said that we are also Hindus, building temples is good but asking votes in the name of temples is not, and that remains our view."

SHOCKING ! Congress MLA @HC_Balakrishna warned the voters of scrapping the 5 Guarantees in Karnataka if people don't vote for the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections @RahulGandhi is this the NYAY you are talking about? pic.twitter.com/LOId42MZgq
— BALA (@erbmjha) January 31, 2024

"If the people make Congress win we will continue with guarantees or else we will scrap the guarantees because people have rejected it. We will feel that the temples hold more value for you over the guarantees and scrap them. Using that money we will build temples too and ask votes in the name of temples isn't it?" said the Congress MLA.

Looks like khangress’

‘Mohabbat ki Dukaan’
is turned into
‘Blackmailing ki Dukaan’

In both Khangress ruled states, the govt is officially blackmailing people to vote for them in general elections, to continue their promised freebie schemes.

Will people really fall this time? pic.twitter.com/mLmmKYNM7f
— Tathvam-asi (@ssaratht) January 31, 2024

"I have told CM that because of the guarantees you have given people should make us win, or else we will scrap the guarantees and will use these funds for development," he added.

Congress's Freebie politics

What is freebie politics?

Provision of a series of promises made by political parties by providing free electricity, free public transport, free water, and waiver of pending bills and loans are often regarded as freebies.

Thanks to Aam Adami Party and Congress freebie culture has already become a part of our democracy, under which wherein the promise of free electricity and free public transport is fast becoming the template to win elections.

Ahead of the assembly elections,the Congress made several poll promises, which they guaranteed to fulfil soon after they win elections in the state. The Congress's major guarantees were - 2,000 monthly assistance to women heads of all families (Gruhalakshmi), 200 units of power to all households (Gruhajyoti), 3,000 every month for graduate youth and 1,500 for diploma holders (Yuvanidhi), 10 kg rice per person per month (Annabhagya) and free travel for women in the State public transport buses (Shakti).

The total cost of all the freebies will amount to ₹65,082 crore a year, according to analyst estimates. ₹42,960 crore for Gruhalaksmi, ₹15,498 crore for Gruhajyoti, ₹5,728 crore for Annabhagya, and ₹896 crore for Yuvanidhi, will be the cost breakup. This is nearly 20 per cent of the State budget.

This culture is not only influencing political campaigns but also election results in India. But is this ethical? Are the promises actually fulfilled?

Freebie is Scam

One such promise was to provide 200 units of free power to all households without any conditions. But a recent announcement by the Karnataka government to hike the electricity tariff by Rs. 2.89 per unit in June created a commotion among the locals. The hike has been reportedly done under the new Griha Jyoti scheme, which promised household free supply of power with a cap of 200 units a month.

Congress promised free electricity in #Karnataka before elections, but after winning, they haven't even provided 5 hours of electricity to farmers.

Farmers are so fed up that they are now saying they'll die by drinking pesticides if electricity is not provided. This is the… pic.twitter.com/is2gJZegBA
— Vishnu Vardhan Reddy (@SVishnuReddy) October 21, 2023

This extra cost is the fuel and power purchase cost adjustment(FPPCA), which include arrears from April. Also FPPCA for January could not be implemented in March because of billing issues and scarcity of time. As per the senior officials of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission on May 13th ordered a tariff hike of 70 paise with effect from April 1st and just a few days ago they revised the tariff by adding FPPCA to it.

To add to this, the fixed charges also saw a sharp rise, ranging from Rs. 50 to Rs. 75 depending on the consumption load, in the electricity bill generated by the various electricity supply companies across the state for the month of June. The decision by the Siddharamiah-led government has left thousands of citizens bewildered, who were expecting their electricity bill to be zero, as promised by the Congress party in their poll manifesto.

The Supreme Court in its recent statement said that freebies are extended using taxpayer money and may push the State towards “imminent bankruptcy.”

The reality of the promises that these political parties make is totally disappointing. This freebie culture is dangerous for the development of the country as it just strives towards political gains. It only misuses taxpayer’s money with the rich benefiting at the cost of the poor.