New Delhi (Agency): The Karnataka Legislative Assembly experienced fiery debates on Thursday. The discussions centered around an alleged promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to credit Rs 15 lakh into each person’s bank account. The opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), challenged the ruling Congress party to provide evidence supporting their claim.
The disagreement began during Congress MLA from Navalgund, Konareddy’s comments during a motion to thank the Governor’s address in the Assembly. He criticized the BJP for questioning the Congress party’s guarantee schemes, saying, “We stand by our guarantees, as our government is taking measures to fulfill it. 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.”
Senior BJP leader Basangouda Patil Yatnal reacted sharply to Konareddy’s remarks. He challenged Konareddy to provide at least one piece of evidence, such as a video clip, showing the Prime Minister making this alleged promise. Yatnal expressed his frustration saying, “What the PM had spoken then was regarding the black money deposited by certain rich people and politicians in foreign bank accounts, and getting them back. Let him 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 from politics. No one should make such irresponsible statements.” He asserted that the Prime Minister has never spoken about such a promise and accused the Congress of spreading lies against the BJP government and PM.
The argument escalated into a heated exchange between members of the treasury and opposition benches. The controversy dates back to the general elections of 2014 when the BJP and Modi had pledged to bring back black money hidden in foreign bank accounts by corrupt citizens.
Yatnal added that if the Prime Minister indeed made such a statement, he was ready to apologize, but insisted that such a promise was never made and that talking about Rs 15 lakh has become a “job” for Congress people. Speaker U T Khader attempted to defuse the situation by calming down MLAs of both sides.
Energy Minister K J George asked the BJP if the PM had successfully brought back the black money from Swiss banks as promised. Yatnal countered this by asking whether the PM ever claimed he would credit Rs 15 lakh to every bank account.
BJP MLA B Y Vijayendra also urged Congress members to provide evidence for the Prime Minister’s alleged promise or have their remarks removed from the record. The debates continued with Minister K N Rajanna and Congress MLA Abbayya Prasad insisting that the PM made the promise and failed to fulfill it. The Assembly descended into chaos as BJP members continued to demand evidence, while Congress members reiterated their assertion.
Speaker Khader, after repeated attempts, managed to lower the tempers and continued with the legislative business.
