BJP to hit streets if Karnataka bus fare hike is not withdrawn: Ashoka

Bengaluru: Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly R. Ashoka on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Congress government over the proposed increase in bus fares, alleging that the government’s two principles were "deceiving people and indiscriminately increasing prices".

Reacting to the proposed bus fare hike from November 5, Ashoka questioned whether repeated increases in the prices of milk, curd, and other essential services reflected the Congress government’s pro-people administration.

“First, there was an increase in milk prices, then curd prices, and now bus fares are set to increase from November 5. Is this the Congress government’s idea of pro-people governance?” he asked.

Taking aim at the Shakti scheme, which provides free bus travel to women, Ashoka alleged that while the government had promised free travel with one hand, it was preparing to burden the pockets of the entire family, including men, with the other.

Addressing Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Transport Minister Byrathi Suresh, Ashoka asked whether people of Karnataka were expected to pay the price for the Congress government’s guarantees.

He listed the increase in milk prices, proposed hike in bus fares, electricity charges, drinking water charges, property tax and prices of essential commodities, besides what he described as an increasing tax burden on the public.

“Is making the lives of ordinary people more expensive by leaving nothing untouched your achievement?” Ashoka asked.

The Leader of the Opposition alleged that the state government was shifting the burden of financial mismanagement onto the people. He said the government itself stated that the four state-run transport corporations had incurred losses exceeding Rs 9,000 crore.

“Instead of hiding its failure in economic management and imposing the burden on the people, the government should answer for its administrative failures before citing the increase in diesel prices,” he said.

Ashoka further alleged that the Congress government had pushed the state’s economy towards the brink of bankruptcy by making promises under its guarantee schemes without having adequate financial resources to sustain them.

“Like holding a festival with money one does not possess, the Congress government is now recovering from the people’s pockets the burden created in the name of guarantees,” he alleged.

He said people did not need a “guarantee of price rise” but a guarantee of a peaceful and affordable life.

“The Congress government does not want to fill people’s pockets; emptying them has become its guarantee,” Ashoka charged.

Demanding the immediate withdrawal of the proposed “anti-people” bus fare hike, Ashoka warned that the BJP would take to the streets and launch a protest in support of the people if the proposal was not dropped.

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