“Congress has not done the proper homework” : Nirmala Sitharaman

Bangalore Apr. 7, :  A press conference was been held today in the BJP media office.  As the elections date gear up in Karnataka the parties are making an effort to stay connected to the people and addressing them. Finance Minister Mrs.  Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the media today in the press conference.

After the elections are been announced this is her first visit to Karnataka and also her first press conference. She said, she wanted to highlight mainly 6 things about how BJP government and Karnataka have worked.  She started with talking about how much interest BJP has had in Karnataka stating the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Karnataka 32 times from the year 2015. She also mentioned that he has made seven visits until now and with his one more visit on April 9^th it will sum up to 8 visits just in 2023. She also mentioned about other leaders like Amit Shah, Natan, Rajanath Singh etc. visiting   Karnataka and giving due attention to the issues which, when interacted have been picked up.

While talking about the history and during emergency period of BJP she highlighted the points of how the BJPites have carried the emotional bond with the state of Karnataka mainly Bengaluru. She also said that the emotional bond is carried prior from the time when the party even came into existence.

Going on she said and highlighted about the different developments, issues and programs that are done by the BJP government to benefit Karnataka. Mentioning about the two national executives that happened in Karnataka, 2006 resolution focusing on solving of problems of farmers suicide in northern Karnataka, the different developments in railways, airways, digital, infrastructure etc.

Listing about the different developments in the sector of road ways, she highlighted about the Bengaluru – Mysuru express way, with 6 lines that has benefited the people by bringing the travel time from 3 hours to 75 minutes now. Mysuru – Kushal Nagar express, 4 lines way by bringing the hours of travel from 5 hours to 2.5 hours. She mentioned that in Karnataka alone 1lakh crore rupees is been inversted on the highways.

Talking about the railways  she said that from the year 2009-14, 835 crores were allotted for railways but after PM Narendra Modi came into power it has gone up 9 times higher from the year 2014-present. She highlilghted about the different projects that have come up in the railway department like, the world’s largest railway platform in Hubli which has entered the Guinness book of world records, the first Indian air conditioned railway station Sir M Vishwesvarayya railway station in Baiyapannahalli, Bengaluru, 100% electrification of Konkan railway line etc.

Coming to airways she mentioned about the Shivmoga airport which was inaugurated on February 24 and was built with the budget of 3600 crores. The terminal garden in Bengaluru with the budget of 5000 crores, second runway in Kempegowda International airport with 278 crores budget. She also gave the developments that are been done in the health, eduaction and smart city matters. 5600 crores for Hubli- Dharwad smart city project were allotted. The major developments mentioned were tumkuru industrial project, 3800 crores on mechanization and industrialization on Mangaluru port which would be benifiting the common people was also highlighted.

Pic by : C.S.Praveen Kumar

While addressing she also mentioned about the gas cariers, tumkuru industrial area Asia’s largest helicopter manufacturing company which focuses on Aatma nirbar Bharat. Fishing harbor at Hulai, biotechnology parks which will also replicate in Mysuru, Dharwad, Bidar were also shared. The information of creation of several clusters like jewellery park in Kalburgi, pharma cluster in Yadagiri, textile cluster in Davanagere etc were also highlighted.

The conference came to an end after the question and answers session. Different questions on price hike, Arrunachal Pradesh issue were asked which were been answered in a detail way. To one of the questions asking if there would be any financial problems because of the promises made by the congress of giving Rs s2000 for women, Rs 3000 for unemployed youth per month. Nirmala Sitharaman answered saying  that “ checking with the congress history of promises, they have never fulfilled them” , talking about the assurances congress has given the people that it is not practically possible. She stated that when looked practically one third of the budget that would be allotted for the state will be used up for fulfilling these promises and running the state with the rest wouldn’t be possible which means that “ The congress has not done the proper homework.”

-Pavani B