In response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intense poll campaigning in the State, especially in the Kalyana Karnataka region, All India Congress Committee (AICC) president M. Mallikarjun Kharge has said that Mr. Modi has suddenly developed a special affection for Karnataka, especially Kalaburagi district.
“The Prime Minister is campaigning in Kalaburagi and Yadgir districts. He is even going to taluk centres and remote areas. This shows how Mr. Modi and his party are afraid of the Congress wave in the State, especially in Kalyana Karnataka region,” Mr. Kharge said at an election rally at Aland in Kalaburagi district on Wednesday, a day after Mr. Modi participated in a roadshow in Kalaburagi city.
Questioning Mr. Modi’s silence over the rampant corruption in the BJP government in the State, the Congress veteran said that the Prime Minister’s non-tolerance towards corruption is a hoax.
“Mr. Modi speaks volumes about curbing corruption. He often says that neither he will be corrupt nor will he allow others to be corrupt. He must have forgotten to ask Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai as to whom then the 40% commission being extracted from the contractors in the State is reaching,” Mr. Kharge said.
Responding to Mr. Modi’s allegation that he and his son [Priyank Kharge] insulted him, Mr. Kharge hit back saying that it is Mr. Modi who insulted Karnataka by withdrawing all the major projects sanctioned to the State by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
“Mr. Modi comes to Karnataka to inaugurate national highway projects that were completed and inaugurated by the Congress many years ago. We had taken approval for the highway from Solapur to Bengaluru, from Bidar to Hiriyur and from Bidar to Mysuru. But the present government has halted all this work. Instead of taking up new projects, they are spending huge money for inaugurating the old projects that are already functioning. We would have appreciated Mr. Modi if he had sanctioned any major projects to the State,” Mr. Kharge said.
Pointing to around 30 lakh vacancies in the country and around 2,58,000 vacancies in the State, Mr. Kharge said that the BJP’s double-engine government did not want to fill the posts and help the poor people.
“If the vacancies are filled, poor people from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections will benefit and get stronger economically. The BJP doesn’t want this to happen,” Mr. Kharge said.
Terming the imminent Assembly elections in the State as very crucial not just for Karnataka but also for the entire nation, Mr. Kharge called upon the people to vote for the Congress to dislodge the 40% commission government that has halted the development of the State.
The former Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council and Congress Aland candidate B.R. Patil and other leaders were present.
