The Congress has perhaps the best chance this time to form the government in Karnataka. In an interview to Business Line , Parameshwara, who is leading the party at the hustings as the State party president talks about how he plans to tackle key issues affecting Karnataka.
Q: What are your views on the BJP government?
A: There was no positive governance under the BJP rule. The State suffered because of that in terms of growth and progress. Not long ago, Karnataka was the number one State in most parameters but today we languish somewhere in the seventh position. This is despite the Planning Commission giving more funds to the State year after year. About 10 years ago, NPC allocation to the State was at least five times less. What it means is that funds were never a problem. The BJP election manifesto during last elections promised 10,000 MW but by the end of five years, they could not even produce 500 MW of power.
There was infighting within the party. There was also no proper guidance and BJP has had no experience in running a government. But an ordinary person will not worry about these factors. He wants good governance.
When BJP came to power, the party leaders said the Congress had failed and rode to power on that plank. So, you are no different.
We have learnt from our mistakes. We know what we did last time and we will not repeat them. We probably could not communicate properly to the people. We ushered in IT revolution in the State. We built 1 lakh houses for the poor. One third of the budgetary allocation went towards irrigation, which is quite unprecedented but we failed to communicate properly. We will correct that now.
So, what will the Congress bring to the table if it comes back to power?
We will obviously provide better governance over the next five years. We will give effective leadership. A weak leader cannot push the programmes even if there is enough money in the treasury. We will take the State to number one position again. If you look at the BPL numbers, you will realise that there are 1 crore people below the poverty line. So, when we are talking about growth, we are looking at overall development. Because of this, there will be enough spin-offs. Look at the spin off from the IT industry. The hospitality industry took wings, tourism got a fillip.
You talk about effective leadership but are yet to identify a leader who can take the party to power.
There are a half dozen leaders from Karnataka at the Centre and an equal number here are all competent. Therefore, it becomes easier for the high command to identify the leader who can be the Chief Minister. Traditionally, the Congress Party has never picked up a leader before going to polls.
Rahul Gandhi has often talked about giving power to the State units to select their own candidates. Has the high command given you the freedom to choose the candidates for this election?
We have been given the freedom to pick and choose the candidates. There was not even a single case when the high command imposed a candidate on us. Two things happened this time: One, there was no candidate recommended by Delhi and there was no quota system. Also, we are very serious about keeping out candidates with criminal record.
The corporate sector here claims that while the government seeks major investments from them, it does not have a stated policy for the sector.
We are going to change that now. We will provide more incentives to corporates. We have identified sectors where we will give incentives to invest in. For example, the private sector will be encouraged to invest in the power sector. Look at the Global Investors’ Meet. It has been turned into a farce.
Narendra Modi talked about less government in running Gujarat. Are you going to do something similar?
It is not Modi’s idea. He has copied our governance style and passed it as his own. We have always encouraged private initiatives. We were the first to hold a global investors meet during S.M. Krishna’s rule. Modi may have marketed the investors’ meet but we were the first to start such programmes.
When S M Krishna was Chief Minister, he involved the corporate sector and floated initiatives like the Bangalore Agenda Task Force to manage the city.
Of course we are going to involve the corporate sector. They are welcome to join us in making the city a better place to live in.
If you look at neighbouring Tamil Nadu, apart from Chennai, there are other cities which have become industrial hubs. But this is something which has not happened here.
I have a vision to develop Mangalore and Hubli-Dharwad as second metros. Being a port city, Mangalore has a better chance for becoming a major business centre. It can even develop as an alternative to Mumbai. We will also provide a lot of incentives to develop Hubli-Dharwad in Hyderabad-Karnataka region into a major business city. There are also plans to develop another city on the outskirts of Bangalore. You can call it as Greater Bangalore or anything but we want to make a major business centre.
Then there are opportunities to set up major international convention centres and the government does not even have to fund them. It can all be funded by the private sector. Why do people go to Davos? It is not because of the weather but because of the facilities that they have there. We can do the same here. Then, we can have a Bangalore Resolution and not a Davos Resolution.
What will be your stand on the Cauvery water issue? Do we see an end to the problem in case the Congress comes to power?
We have to adopt a policy of give and take. This issue has been lingering since 1924. We had an opportunity soon after Independence but we did not capitalise on it. We will try and resolve the issue even if we have to make some compromises and make the parties concerned understand our position. More than anything else, such issues need strong political will rather than getting involved in rules and regulations.
How many seats do you think the Congress will win this time?
We will surely form the government this time. It is not about the number of seats but I can say that things are definitely looking up for us this time and we should be able to make it.
Are you open to the idea of a coalition government?
That situation will not arise at all. At one point of time, I felt that there will be a coalition government but during the last six months, I have done my own analysis of the people’s mind after touring the entire State and what they want is a stable government and it can only be done if there is a one-party rule.