BANGALORE: Prior to the Assembly elections, the Karnataka Congress made its third GUARANTEE, giving each BPL household member 10 kg of free rice each month under the Anna Bhagya Scheme.

This was a common request made by the public during the party's ongoing Praja Dhwani Yatre, said KPCC president D K Shivakumar, who made the announcement at a press conference in Bangalore on February 24. He claimed that people were upset with the BJP government for reducing the amount of free rice from the 7 kilogram that was being distributed when the Congress was in power to 5 kg.

If the party is selected to lead the State of Karnataka, Congress has previously pledged to give 2,000 rupees per month to women from each household and 200 units of free electricity to every home.

Congress  party has launched a drive to deliver ‘guarantee cards’ to households about their electoral pledges.  Shivakumar said this was necessary because people have lost faith in the promises of political parties.

The leader of the opposition and former chief minister Siddaramaiah said, "Food is a basic requirement that ought to be provided for people free of charge in the context of pricing rice." "We want to commit to keeping our categorical pledges."  Siddaramaiah made his first announcement as Chief Minister in 2013 regarding the Anna Bhagya programme.

Shivakumar said that Congress believes in strengthening livelihoods through such initiatives and not  simply playing politics with people’s emotions’, hitting out obliquely at the budget promise of building a Rama temple in Ramanagaram. “Temples and mosques can be built by trusts and people. It is not a task to be undertaken by governments,” he added.

Notably, the PMGKAY was introduced in 2020 to help people overcome the Covid crisis. The government supplied free rice under the scheme between March and October, 2020. The ration provided under the scheme will be in addition to the regular ration supplied under PDS. There are about 4 crore beneficiaries under PDS in Karnataka.

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