He was addressing a preparatory meet for the upcoming election for Southwest graduates and teachers constituency held at A B Shetty Hall in Bunts Hostel here on Saturday June 2. 

Speaking on state government’s work in the education sector, he hailed the CM for keeping aside 15 percent of the total budget for the sector. "The state government provided Rs 15,000 crore of the 1,00,000 crore budget for education sector, crossing national target of 10 percent," he said.

On petrol price hike he said that the tax levied by the central government makes it Rs 36 per litre, and there was need for revenue neutralization.

"Congress leads to destruction while BJP leads to progress," he declared, adding that the GDP growth during NDA ruling stood at Rs 9 percent while it has slumped to to 5.7 percent now, which may cause withdrawal of investments.

Reiterating his statement made to the media earlier in the day, Ananth Kumar said that the state suffered a loss of Rs 6,000 crore due to severe drought this year and that though the state government demanded a special package of Rs 1,500 crore from the centre, a mere Rs 70 crore was released. He lambasted Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for the poor action, adding that at the same time, CM Sadananda Gowda released Rs 600 crore.

On electricity production in the state, he said, "For the National Thermal Power Corporation’s thermal power plant in Bijapur, the state government has agreed to provide land and water. The aim is to produce 4000 mw of electricity, of which 2000 mw will be made available for the state for civilian use. After Gujarat, the state of Karnataka is taking giant strides in electricity production, for which he the CM has to be hailed. Also, yet another upcoming plant near Bangalore will fulfil the power requirements of Bangalore city, which requires 33percent of the total power supply of the state."

In his turn, CM Sadananda Gowda said that BJP candidates were elected to the upper house even when the party was not in power. "Major political decision are taken in the upper house, where debates are held by experts. Hence, though it does not have any impact on the government, there is a need to choose good candidates as MLCs. This election will be a guiding factor for the upholding the Constitution," he said.
 
In a remark he also said that in recent years hot-blooded young leaders were entering the legislative assembly, even as there is a need for intellectuals to fill the seats. He said during council election educated voters express their views through votes, hence they should vote for BJP.
 
About management of the drought situation in the state, Gowda said that it was handled successfully, for which testimony was given by the two teams from the centre which visited the state. On Sakala project (Right to Services Act), he said as many as 18.5 lac applications were sorted out and 150 services are included in the project. "Our aim is to implement the till secretariat level in the future," he added.
 
He mocked Siddaramaiah’s resignation calling it 'a sorry state of affairs' in the Congress party and said the BJP is all set to win the council election.
 
MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, legislative assembly deputy speaker Yogish Bhat, leaders G T Deve Gowda, Ayanoor Manjunath, Sullia MLA Angara, deputy mayor Amithakala, Prathapsimha Nayak among others were present.

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