Vijayanagara: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday said that the Bhu Guarantee scheme was the sixth of the Congress Guarantee schemes and added that it was meant to repay the debt of the people who blessed us with power in the state.

“We are giving the Bhu Guarantee scheme as the sixth guarantee to repay our debt to the people of the state who blessed us with power. As per the directions of the AICC President, the guarantee schemes will not be stopped as long as Congress government is in power,” he said speaking at the ‘Samarpana convention’ organised to mark the state government completing two years.

“We are not here to celebrate completing two years in office. We are here to repay the debts of the people of Karnataka and rededicate ourselves to the service of the people. You have blessed us with 136 MLAs under the leadership of Mallikarjuna Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. As promised, we delivered the five guarantees. We are now launching the sixth guarantee in Bhu Guarantee scheme,” he added.

“Our government is giving khatas to people who did not have it for the last 50 years. I would like to congratulate Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and his team for making this historic scheme possible. I am announcing the seventh guarantee scheme of digitising all the khatas in urban areas,” he added.

“Our government has put a break on corruption in the last two years. Indira Gandhi started the steel plant in this district. Sonia Gandhi started RTPS here. The Congress party has won in all the places where our leader Rahul Gandhi conducted Bharat Jodo yatra. Kalyana Karnataka has given us 6 MPs from the region. We are happy to be giving Rs 5,000 crores to the region for development,” he said.

“Opposition parties are criticising us. Criticisms die but good work lives on. Our schemes are a proof of that. We have plans to fill tanks in the state while we are discussing Navali dam. We are planning to utilise our share of 24 TMC through lift irrigation. We are committed to protect your interests.”

“Industries have come forward to invest Rs 10 lakh crore in our state during our tenure. We have launched Kalyana patha scheme to develop roads in rural areas. All other departments are also coming out new schemes. We follow the philosophy of Basavanna and we have kept our word accordingly.

The Opposition is criticising us as they can’t digest our accomplishments. Irrespective of criticism, we will continue to do good work,” he added.