BENGALURU: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah's newly appointed economic adviser Basavaraj Rayareddi has said that implementation of the Congress government's five
poll guarantees
is imposing a "huge
financial burden
" on the
exchequer
and exerting significant pressure on the state's economy.
Rayareddi, a former minister and now a Congress MLA, made the comments before reporters last week but a video of the interaction went viral Tuesday.
He quickly clarified that he had not spoken against the policy, merely stated the financial implications as adviser to the chief minister.
"As much as Rs 58,000 crore has been earmarked for these (guarantees). As an economic adviser, I am exploring possibilities of getting funds from the state and Centre to fund these guarantees," Rayareddi had said last week.
The state's guarantees include free power up to 200 units per month, free bus rides for women, monthly grants to women family heads and ration allowances.
On Tuesday, after his comments stirred controversy, Rayareddi told TOI that his "statement has been misinterpreted". "I didn't speak against the guarantees as such. I intended to say that the schemes have posed a challenge before us, but we will to handle it. The CM is known for his experience in handling finances and he will come up with a budget to address all these concerns," he added.
In July last year, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, also the state Congress president, had admitted that the state was suffering from a paucity of funds to bankroll development projects as they had earmarked more than Rs 40,000 crore to implement the five election guarantees.
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