“The BJP is talking about the Modi wave as it has nothing else to talk about,” Minister and Congress leader Satish Jarkiholi said in Gokak on Thursday.
“BJP candidates across the country are asking voters to elect them in order to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister the third time. It is because they have no concrete achievements to show in their rule of 10 years. It is also because the candidates have no achievements of their own to speak of. They are also diverting the people’s attention away from real issues,” he said.
He was addressing a campaign rally for party candidate Mrinal Hebbalkar in the Belagavi parliamentary constituency.
He urged the people to support the Congress as it is a party that works for them and not for the ultrarich. “I will tell you why I think the Congress is the party of the have nots, while the BJP is a party of the haves. The Congress is the party of the poor while the BJP exists to serve the rich. All their acts, including sale of public assets at below market prices to big corporates that are their friends, closing down and weakening of public sector undertakings, not starting any new PSUs, not building large infrastructure projects like dams or academic institutions like universities, are indications of their mentality,” he said.
“Most of the public sector undertakings, huge dams and universities were built by Congress governments led by Jawaharlal Nehru in the first few decades of Independence, when there was not much money with the government. This socio-economic structure was aimed at helping the poor. But the BJP has undone all that. In the last decade it has not been able to build a single PSU or a dam or a university of world standards that provides free or subsidised education to the poor,” he said.
“The people are realising its failures and they will teach the BJP a lesson,” he said. He asked all leaders and workers to strive single-mindedly for the party’s nominees.
“The youth, women and every family in the State have benefitted from our guarantee schemes. There is no denying this fact. Congress workers should speak about the successes of the State government and the failures of the Modi Sarkar,” he said.
The Public Works Minister said that his department has successfully completed several works in Belagavi district, including Gokak and Arabhavi region, and sought the people’s support.
