The Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Thursday witnessed a heated verbal exchange between the treasury and opposition sides, with the BJP demanding the ruling Congress provide proof for their allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to credit Rs 15 lakh to every person’s bank account. The issue came up during Navalgund Congress MLA Konareddy’s intervention during the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the Assembly.
“They (the BJP) have criticised our (Congress) guarantee schemes. We stand by our guarantees, as our government is taking measures to fulfil them, but you had given a guarantee of crediting Rs 15 lakh to every bank account, but you did not credit that money to even a single bank account. You had also promised 2 lakh jobs to youth but could not do it. You had also promised to double the farmers’ income,” Konareddy said. Senior BJP leader Basangouda Patil Yatnal objected to this and asked Konareddy to give at least one piece of evidence or a video clip to prove that the Prime Minister had promised to credit Rs 15 lakh to every bank account.
“Why is he (Konareddy) speaking bogus and false things? What the PM had said then was regarding the black money deposited by certain rich people and politicians in foreign bank accounts by looting this country and getting it back. Let him (MLA) show at least one video clipping of Modi’s speech, where he has promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh in every bank account. I will quit politics. No one should make such irresponsible statements,” he said.
This led to heated arguments between members of the Treasury and opposition benches. During the run-up to the 2014 general elections, the BJP and Modi claimed to bring back the black money stashed in foreign bank accounts by corrupt citizens.
Yatnal further said that if the Prime Minister had in the case made such a statement, he was ready to apologise, but the truth is that such a promise was never made, and unnecessarily speaking about Rs 15 lakh has become a “job” for Congress people.
Chaos broke out in the Assembly as BJP members continued to demand evidence, even as Congress members repeatedly asserted that the PM had made such a promise. Speaker Khader, after repeated attempts, managed to calm the tempers and continue with the business of the House.
