Why Siddaramaiah doesn't believe in having a 56-inch chest?

Congress government celebrates its four-year's governance at Mysuru CM defends his move on not waiving off the farm loan. But says, will consider at the right time Students at government schools will now get milk five days instead of three days

Celebrating his government's four-year completion at a packed venue in Mysuru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's famous remark '56-inch chest' stating that one does not need a 56-inch chest but a kind heart is necessary to serve the people. "And we have that," he said.

During the run up to the 2014 elections, Narendra Modi had famously attacked Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav for his criticism that Modi cannot make another Gujarat out of UP. Modi had famously said that"... Do you know it requires a chhappan inch ki chhati (56-inch chest) to make it."

"I don't believe that one needs a chest (56-inch) swelling with power or pride to deliver to people. One needs only a heart that beats for the masses," he told a gathering. Siddaramaiah claimed that his government has - at every step - is striving to ensure a better governance to the people.

Defending his stand on not waiving off farmers' loan, Siddaramaiah said no BJP leader urged the Prime Minister to waive off the loan when a delegation from the State met the prime minister. "Why did they keep quiet? The previous government had not hiked the compensation issued to the families of farmers who ended their lives due to loan debt. But, we have hiked it to Rs five lakh," he said.

"Previous chief minister had stated that he did not had a currency printing machine to waive off the farm loan. Let the Opposition party leader convince the prime minister to waive off farmers' loan from private banks, we would also consider waiving off loans raised from co-operative banks," he said. The UPA government had in fact waived off Rs 72,000 crore of farm loans. The BJP government has not done so far, he claimed.

Listing out his government's achievements, he claimed that due to the 'Anna Bhagya' scheme people in rural areas have stopped migrating to the cities. Also, this has considerably helped in making the state a hunger-free state. Of the 165 promises made, the Congress government has fulfilled 150 promises. Before next year's elections, the government would meet its promises, he claimed.

On the occasion, he also said that the government will now consider providing milk to school students for five days as against three days. Students are distributed milk under the 'Ksheera Bhagya' project at government schools.