Opposition parties have been pressing the Congress government in Karnataka to fulfil five guarantees.

Opposition parties in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (Secular), on Friday hit out at the Congress government for allegedly delaying the fulfilment of five guarantees. Before the recent assembly elections, the Congress had promised "five guarantees" to the public.

The Congress promised to provide 200 units of free electricity (Grihajyoti) to all the families in the assembly elections, an assistance of Rs 2000 per month (Grihalakshmi) to the female head of every family, 10 kg of free rice (Annabhagya) to every member of the family living below the poverty line, Rs 3000 per month to unemployed graduate youth for two years and Rs 1500 to unemployed diploma holders. He also promised free travel for women in government buses.

The Congress had assured that these schemes would be implemented in the first cabinet meeting if voted to power with a majority. The party won 224 seats in the 135-member Assembly.

Soon after taking oath, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had told the media that the Cabinet had approved these guarantees in principle. "We will get the details and discuss... The financial impact will be looked into and then we will definitely do it. Whatever be the financial implications, we will fulfil these five guarantees after the next Cabinet meeting," he said.

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy alleged that the Congress came to power by misleading the voters and vowed not to sit quietly. "I am calling upon families who use 200 units of electricity. If your power consumption crosses 200 units, you pay, I will not stop you from doing so. They had promised it (200 units of free electricity)," he said.

The former chief minister also appealed to women travelling in government buses not to pay a single rupee fare, saying the Congress had promised free bus passes. He said that providing free bus travel to women in Karnataka will cost the state exchequer Rs 24000,<> crore.

Hitting out at the Congress, Kumaraswamy said, "Why did you not explain the situation while announcing these guarantee schemes. At that time you just made a noise of free and guarantee. Now you are talking about guidelines," he said.

Senior BJP leader R Ashoka said Siddaramaiah, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had announced one guarantee each during their election rallies. He said more than 24 hours have passed since the formation of the government, but Congress leaders are still talking about profit and loss.

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