Congress guarantees huge burden on exchequer, admits Siddaramaiah’s Economic Advisor

The five guarantees have become a huge financial burden for our government as nearly Rs.58,000 crore has been earmarked for implementation of the guarantees, said Rayareddy

Hyderabad: The Congress government in the neighbouring Karnataka is reeling under severe pressure and feeling the heat for implementing the guarantees promised to the people during the elections last year.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s Economic Advisor Basavaraj Rayareddy has openly said that the guarantees had turned into a huge burden for the government. The implementation of the guarantees was casting an impact on the State’s exchequer, he said.

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“The five guarantees have become a huge financial burden for our government as nearly Rs.58,000 crore has been earmarked for implementation of the guarantees,” Rayareddy told media persons in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

Worried over the financial implications, the government is even considering introducing a few changes in schemes.

“As an Economic Advisor, I am exploring possibilities on how to get funds from the State and Central government to fund the guarantees. We are holding discussions,” Rayareddy said, according to media reports.

When the issue was raised with Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu here on Tuesday, he replied: “I have not seen his (Rayareddy) remarks, hence I cannot comment.” The Congress government in the State had appointed the Deputy Chief Minister as the chairman for the Cabinet Sub-Committee on the implementation of guarantees in the State.

The Congress party won the elections in Karnataka by promising five guarantees to the people. Though the Congress leaders were boasting about implementing a few guarantees like free bus travel and free power, the government is under tremendous financial pressure to implement the guarantees, according to reports.

As a means to sustain the financial implication, the Congress government had revised the power tariff, making the people pay an additional Rs.2.89 per unit, if their power consumption exceeded 200 units slab, reports said.

Already, several MLAs have expressed their angst over lack of funds for executing development works in respective constituencies. It is also learnt that the Congress party had scheduled a meeting with the MLAs on Tuesday evening to discuss about the constituency development funds issue.