‘Will come back as CM again’: Bommai

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said he will return to power after the assembly election, which is due by May. This comes even as the BJP is yet to announce the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the election.

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Addressing a public gathering at Hungund in northern Karnataka’s Bagalkote district on Tuesday night, Bommai said, “I will come back as chief minister again. God has given me an opportunity to serve Mother Karnataka. I have done sincere work.”

Quoting Lingayat sect founder Basaveshwara and extolling his government’s development agenda, Bommai said, he is treading on the path of “work is worship” and social equality.

“I tried to give social justice to every section of the society. People had asked for corporations of various communities for their overall development. We are treading on the path shown by Basaveshwara,” Bommai said.

The chief minister, who belongs to the Lingayat community, invoked the name of Basaveshwara, whose followers form a large chunk in Karnataka, especially in the northern part of the state.

Bommai said the key parameter of growth in Karnataka was the per capita income in the state, which has grown substantially.

“Before our government came to power, the per capita income in Karnataka was ₹2.42 lakh per annum, which has now increased to ₹3.47 lakh, despite the COVID situation. This shows we carried out development in the middle of COVID pandemic,” the chief minister said.

He stated that the Global Investor’s Meet, held last year, resulted in an investment of ₹12 lakh crore for the state. Bommai urged the public to vote for the BJP if they desire to see the state progress towards development.

The chief minister also hit out at Congress stalwart Siddaramaiah for “lying” to the people alleging that he reduced the quantity of rice given to the poor from 10 kg in 2012 when the BJP was in power to 5 kg.