Bengaluru, July 9 (IANS) Congress National General Secretary and Karnataka incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala on Wednesday refuted reports regarding a meeting between the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar in New Delhi, as “purely imaginary”.
Answering a question by the media on a possible meeting as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Dy CM Shivakumar are in New Delhi over developments in the state, he dubbed them “purely imaginary.”
“I have no knowledge of any such meeting of LoP Rahul Gandhi with the Karnataka CM and Dy CM. Yes. the CM and Dy CM are in Delhi in order to raise issues concerning people of Karnataka and the state government. There is designed discrimination and hatred in BJP and the Union government for the people of Karnataka for voting them out,” Surjewala stated.
“That hatred gets manifested in denial of permission for various projects such as the Kalasa-Banduri project and the Mekedatu project by the Centre,” he said.
“Our GST funds are denied, our share in the Finance Commission is denied. It is the duty of the CM and Dy CM to go to Delhi and raise the issues,” Surjewala stated.
When asked about truck owners on indefinite strike over pending dues of over Rs 250 crore and halt in the transportation of Anna Bhagya free rice, Surjewala stated that he had taken note of the development.
“I have spoken to the Chief Minister and Minister concerned. They said that they would speak to the truck drivers soon and all outstanding payments would be released in a time bound manner,” he stated.
Speaking about Bharat Bandh called by more than 10 Trade Unions across the country, including the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), he said that 25 crore people are staging a protest on Wednesday across the country.
He stated that as per the admitted rate the unemployment rate is 7 to 7.5 per cent in India.
As per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy the unemployment rate is over 10 per cent and among graduates and post graduates it is nearly 30 per cent as joblessness in India is at a 45-year high.
“There are no jobs. That is why the Trade Unions are trying to draw the attention of the BJP government at the Centre,” he said.
“The MGNREGA, which is an instrument of livelihood for the poor, SCs, STs and OBCs is under attack by the Central government. The budget has stagnated at Rs 80,000 crore.
“We had given 100 days of guarantee of work days every year and this government has made provision for 44 days only. As a result, 7 crore MGNREGA workers have lost their right to livelihood on account of linkage of MGNREGA with Aadhaar. These are the questions that Trade Unions are raising,” Surjewala stated.
“There are 30 lakh vacancies in India. There are 85,000 vacancies in Central police forces, why is the government of India not filling up vacancies? India today is the 50th poorest country in the world. By way of per capita income it is next to Bangladesh, Cambodia and Kenya. The world per capita income is $14,000 and ours is $2,900”, he slammed.
“India ranks 111th out of 125 in the Global Hunger Index, 134th out of 193 in the Human Development Index and 159th out of 180 in global Press Freedom Index and that is why the unions are protesting,” Surjewala stated.
–IANS
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