Swavalambi Sarathi scheme: Rajeev Chandrasekhar 'challenges' Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, DyCM Shivakumar

"Rahul Gandhi's Congress is repeatedly demonstrating that they only know how to practice #appeasement politics till they are exposed. I assure that they will be exposed at each and every step," Rajeev Chandrasekhar declared.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday challenged Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state Deputy Chief Minister DK Sivakumar to disclose beneficiaries of the Swavalambi Sarathi scheme on a monthly basis as is being done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

The Minister claimed that the new scheme was designed, developed and announced by the Congress government and was made available first only for minorities and that Other Backward Classes were included as beneficiaries only after he raised the issue on the micro-blogging site X (formerly Twitter) and after outrage by people.

The Swavalambi Sarathi Scheme is a major employment generation scheme that was launched by the Karnataka government with the objective of supporting and encouraging unemployed youth of the state to start their self-employment activity. In an advertisement, the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation promised a subsidy of 50 per cent on vehicle value or up to Rs 3 lakh to people from religious minorities with a household income less than Rs 4.5 lakh to purchase commercial vehicles. 

As per the eligibility criteria for the scheme, an applicant is eligible to apply for its benefits only if he/she or their family members have not availed benefits of any other scheme in the last five years, except the Airavatha Scheme of the Dr Ambedkar Development Corporation Limited.

In Karnataka, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Parsis are classified as religious minorities.

The minister also touched upon the Karnataka Police action of booking a journalist for allegedly spreading misinformation about the commercial vehicle subsidy scheme for religious minorities in the state. 

"Try as they may, Rahul Gandhi’s CONgress/U.P.A/I.N.D.I alliance are repeatedly demonstrating that they only know how to practice appeasement politics till they are exposed. I assure that they will be exposed at each and every step. Intimidating or arresting journalists will not stop the truth from coming out," he posted on X.