Mysuru, Aug 30 (IANS): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said that Rahul Gandhi neither fears anyone nor is he afraid of anything.

The Congress President was addressing a public rally after launching the Griha Laxmi scheme by pressing the digital button to transfer Rs 2,000 allowance to 1.10 crore women heads of the families. Women will be provided Rs 2,000 allowance every month under the scheme.

Kharge lashed out at the BJP for questioning the contributions of the Congress party. “During the tenure of Congress the literacy rate has grown from 14 per cent to 74 per cent. They hijack our programmes, rehash them and claim them as their projects. The education level in SC and STs was 7 per cent. We have increased it to 60 per cent. Before 1947, there were only two lakh primary schools. Now they are eight lakh,” he said.

“Sonia Gandhi brought the Food Security Act. We have brought schemes for the poor. They (BJP) have brought schemes for the rich only. If the name of PM Modi is taken, they will lodge a case. When Rahul Gandhi took his name, a case was lodged against him. Rahul Gandhi will neither fear anyone nor is he afraid of anything. He had taken up padayatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and interacted with people. Which national leader has done this?” Kharge said.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that there are 1.26 crore families in Karnataka. The woman heads of these families were provided Rs 2,000 today. No state in India has come forward to help the distressed people on such a scale. On June 11, Shakthi project was implemented and more than 4 crore women have travelled in state owned buses all over the state. The Anna Bhagya scheme was implemented on July 10. Though the central government did not provide rice, Rs 170 is given for families for the purchase of rice, he said.

The Chief Minister said that zero bills are given under the Griha Jyothi scheme for the households for 1.56 crore beneficiaries. The Prime Minister himself claimed that by implementing these schemes, the state will go bankrupt. Now, the Griha Laxmi scheme is implemented. The Yuva Nidhi programme will start by December or January, he said.

He said that the funds are kept for irrigation, PWD, housing and rural development and along with that guarantee schemes are implemented. They will cost Rs 56,000 crores every year.

“We have proved that our government is for the poor, Dalits, backwards, minorities, farmers, labourers and youth,” he said.

The Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said that with the launch of the Griha Laxmi scheme, the golden era of late PM Indira Gandhi has started. There is a change of wave in the whole country. “We have implemented four guarantee schemes in 100 days after coming to power. Thereby we have introduced the Karnataka model to the country. We have done what has never been done in this country,” he said.