Kharge hits out at Modi-Shah on infiltration in Jharkhand

Hazaribagh: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge today hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for raising the bogey of infiltration in Jharkhand.

Kharge questioned if the infiltration happened, and what were they doing since they had been in power for ten years now.

Kharge also challenged the Prime Minister for a public debate about the Congress guarantees in Karnataka and their implementation while alleging that Modi was spreading lies about the Congress.

Addressing a largely attended public rally here today, the Congress president warned people against the designs of Modi and the BJP that they did not want to serve the people of Jharkhand, but had an eye only on its rich resources like the coal, which he described as black gold and other minerals. He said Modi would grab these and give them away to his rich friends.

He condemned the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister for raising the bogey of infiltration in Jharkhand. He pointed out, that it is the BJP that has been in power at the center for the last ten years. He said, that when they have control over everything, how can they say that infiltration was taking place? “What were you doing then?” he asked Shah while adding, “Were you sleeping”. He said such things can be spoken by the opposition to question the government, but it was strange that those in power were raising these issues.

Challenging Modi for a public debate about five election guarantees given in Karnataka and their implementation, Kharge asked him to come to Karnataka and debate with him. He gave detailed figures of expenses and the budget allocation made for those guarantees. He disclosed that for the year 2024-25, Karnataka had allocated Rs 52,009 crores in its budget for various welfare schemes for the poor and of this Rs 24,017 crore has been spent till October this year.

He said, for the Gruha Jyothi scheme, under which 200 units of free power were to be provided to people every month, Rs 9,657 crore had been allocated in the budget and Rs 5,164 cr spent so far.

For free bus travel for women he said, Rs 2,709 crore had been spent so far, while Rs 5,015 crore had been allocated in the budget for the scheme.

Under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, the woman head of every family, he added, was getting Rs 2,000 every month for which Rs 28,608 crore had been allocated in the budget and Rs 13,451 crore had been spent so far.

Kharge said that for the Anna Bhagya scheme, under which five kg extra rice was being provided to the beneficiaries, Rs 8,080 crore had been allocated and Rs 2,582 crores had been spent on it so far.

The Congress president asserted that, unlike the BJP and Modi, Congress delivers on all its promises and does not lie. He reminded Modi of his promises of providing two crore jobs every year and depositing Rs 15 lakh in every Indian’s bank account.

He recalled that due to Sonia Gandhi’s initiative, the UPA government had brought the Food Security Act and MGNREGA, which provided immense relief to people and which the Modi government was trying to weaken.

Those present included party general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir, senior leader Keshav Mahato, Capt Ajay Yadav, Rajesh Thakur and others.

Inputs from PTI