Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched development works worth ₹1,107.72 crore for his home constituency Varuna on Saturday.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone for the projects in Varuna assembly constituency across different departments at a function here, Mr. Siddaramaiah recalled his political journey starting with his first assembly election in 1983, when he won as an independent candidate and became a Minister.

The Chief Minister said that he had won the elections to the Legislative Assembly five times from Chamundeshwari assembly constituency, and twice from Varuna assembly constituency. While thanking the people of Chamundeshwari, Mr. Siddaramaiah also recalled that he became the Chief Minister on both the occasions he won from Varuna and said that he will be indebted to the people of the constituency.

Highest per capita income

After fulfilling 158 out of the 163 promises the Congress had made before the 2013 Assembly elections in Karnataka, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the government promised to implement five guarantee schemes — Anna Bhagya, Shakti, Gruha Lakshmi, Gruha Jyothi, and Yuva Nidhi — to eliminate economic inequality and uplift the poor before the 2023 assembly polls.

The Congress government was spending ₹55,000 crore every year to implement the guarantee schemes, which had taken the State to the top position in the country in terms of per capita income, the Chief Minsiter said.

“These schemes have put more money into the hands of the people and boosted the economy, which has in turn increased the per capita income,” he said, while also pointing out that Karnataka stood second in GST collections in the country, next only to Maharashtra.

Also, the government had fulfilled 242 out of the 542 promises made before the 2023 elections, he claimed.

Contending that equal opportunities should be given to everybody in the society to eliminate economic inequalities, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the development programmes taken up by his government to uplift the poor, farmers, women, and economically weaker sections were being implemented without any discrimination on caste or religious lines.

MP for Chamarajanagar Sunil Bose, who also spoke on the occasion, said that the people of Varuna constituency had given the State a popular Chief Minister in Mr. Siddaramaiah, whose government had carrieds out developmental works alongside the implementation of guarantee schemes.

Yathindra, Congress MLC, who is also a former MLA of Varuna, sought to make it clear that there is no shortage of funds for taking up development works in the State even though the government was implementing guarantee schemes.

“These schemes ensure more money reaches the hands of the people,” he said, while reiterating that Karnataka ranked first in the country in per capita income.

H.C. Mahadevappa, Minister in charge of Mysuru district; K. Venkatesh, Minister for Sericulture and Animal Husbandry; H.M. Revanna and Pushpa Amarnath, Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the State Guarantee Schemes Implementation Committee respectively; K. Thimmaiah, MLC; G. Lakshmikant Reddy, Deputy Commissioner; and S. Yukesh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Mysuru Zilla Panchayat, were also present on the occasion.