Vijayapura: The stalwarts of the Congress including veteran leaders such as Mallikarjun Kharge and Siddaramaiah received a rousing welcome during the election campaign at Moratagi Village of Sindagi Taluk for by-polls on Monday October 18.
Addressing a public rally here, Kharge said that the defeat of the BJP candidate in by-polls will act as a strong message to the BJP that people are completely dismayed with the Modi Government in the country. Admitting candidly that the victory of the Congress candidates will not help the party to form the Government in Karnataka, however a clear message is needed to be sent to the BJP that how much disappointed the people are with the BJP due to its misrule.
Terming the BJP as the party that does not believe in democratic values and only believes in playing divisive politics by raising religious issues, he appealed to the people not to vote for such a party in the polls.
Indirectly referring to JD (S), he said that the party that claims to be secular joins hands with communal parties such as BJP to gain power. He asked BJP to seek votes on the basis of development and not on religious issues.
Taking exception to the BJP often questioning the Congress for its contribution for the country over the last seven decades, Kharge said that today Modi has become Prime Minister only because of the immense contribution of Congress to the nation. “Let the BJP seek votes on development aspects and not by criticising Congress, ” he said.
Alleging the BJP Government of coming to power in at least six States by illegal means, he said that the BJP has destabilised the Congress Government by undemocratic ways. “The BJP uses illegal tactics such as luring elected MLAs, threatening them using agencies such as Income Tax, CBI or ED to form the government,” he retorted.
Asking the Modi Government to launch its own development programmes, Kharge alleged that the Modi government is busy changing the names of welfare schemes launched by the previous Congress Government.
Recalling his conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during one of the Parliamentary committee meetings he said that he told Mod that he was defeated in last Lok Sabha polls from Gulbarga not by the voters but because of the conspiracy hatched by the RSS and the BJP. “I told Modi that people are still with me but RSS conspired to defeat me,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Siddaramaiah, MLAs M. B. Patil, Shivanand Patil, Satish Jarkiholi and a host of othed party leaders were present.
