K. Harish Kumar, MLC and president of District Congress Committee, at a press conference in Mangaluru on Monday, April 29.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Release of the pending amount to women under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme a few days before voting is not a violation of the model code of conduct, said MLC and Dakshina Kannada District Congress president K. Harish Kumar in Mangaluru on Monday, April 29.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Kumar said it is not unusual to see delays in payments by the government. “Yes, there was a delay in the transfer of some installments of ₹2,000 to women heads of below-poverty-line families. It was all cleared a fortnight before April 26,” he said.
When pointed that the pending amount was credited to beneficiary account two days and a day before April 26, Mr. Kumar said this might be because of the banking system. “There is no violation of model code of conduct in clearing pending payment. Release of amount will not amount to influencing beneficiaries. Yes, beneficiaries will be happy to receive a big sum (from the government) in their account,” he said.
Mr. Kumar said the five guarantees of the Congress government have helped people in tackling problems resulting, namely, from inflation and unemployment. The effective implementation of five guarantees coupled with the abject failure of the Central government to meet the needs of the people has led to voters voting in favour of Congress.
“We have failed to win this (Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha) seat for the last 33 years. But this time we are confident of winning the seat by a margin of over 1 lakh votes,” he said. Congress party workers have worked in unison and there has not been a single voice of dissent. The party workers have toiled to get more votes for Congress from the 1,800 polling stations in Dakshina Kannada. In the 14 seats that went to polls in Karnataka in the second phase of polling, Congress will win 11 seats.
The fear of defeat, Mr. Kumar said, has led Prime Minister Narendra Modi to target the Congress government in Karnataka by falsely accusing the latter of taking away reservation rights of other backward castes and giving them to Muslims. Mr. Modi has falsely accused Congress of taking away the “Mangala Sutra” of women in the process of rationalisation of wealth, he said.