Udupi: The All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Rahul Gandhi arrived at the Government College ground helipad in Tenka Yermal near Kaup here on March 20 by chopper from the Mangaluru International Airport along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Congress Parliamentary Party in Lok Sabha; Veerappa Moily, MP; K C Venugopal, In-charge of Congress Affairs in the state; Pramod Madhwaraj, District In-charge Minister; Vinaykumar Sorake, Member Of Legislative Assembly, Kaup and former district in-charge minister; Priyanka Mary Francis, Deputy Commissioner and other leaders were present to welcome Rahul Gandhi.
Upon his arrival, Gandhi saw students outside a nearby school and interacted with them before moving on to inaugurate the Rajiv Gandhi National Academy of Political Education at Tenka Yermal. In his inaugural address, Gandhi said that there was a need to increase the Seva Dal activities, so that there would be discipline. “The Congress should become stronger all over the country. The members of the Sevadal are the soldiers of the Congress party and need to be trained,” he added.
Later, Gandhi visited the house of Kishore Suvarna, a fisherman and former gram panchayat member at Tenka Yermal, after he heard the views of the fishermen regarding the problems faced by the commuinity in the coastal region of Karnataka. Siddaramaiah and Pramod Madhwaraj were also present during the visit.
He then proceeded towards Padubidri for the formal programme. In his address, Rahul Gandhi said, “This is the land of Narayan Guru. This is the state of the great Basavanna who walked and lived among the people. There are millions of followers of both Narayana Guru and Basavanna in this state. Even though BJP speaks about these great leaders, they are not true followers because they do not follow their principles. They will praise them but they still use tactics to divide the people.”
Speaking about the prime minister, Gandhi said that Modi promised the nation many things during the election. “Now, there is no money in the bank and some rich people have taken the money away with them. “The Congress government in Karnataka waived off Rs 8000 Crore worth of farmers’ loans and has supported them at large. Our government also provides food to the poorest of the poor and takes care of all sections of the society under several schemes”, he said.
Commenting on the burning issue of unemployment, he said that the Modi government had promised that he would provide employment for the youths. “Has this promise been fulfilled?”, he asked, adding that the Congress government, when in power, had created 2 crore jobs for the youth. “Modi said Rs 15 Lakh would be credited to all the account holders in the bank. Has this been fulfilled? The Congress government under Siddaramaiah has been providing Rs 3 Lakh interest free loans and free rice to almost one crore families of the state. Is Modi providing any interest free loans to the farmers? Girls are also getting free education till their post graduation. Our government has helped the people three times more than the previous governments in the state”, he said.
He accused the BJP of indulging in “divide and rule” policies by spreading hatred among the people. “The BJP says that the Congress has not done anything in the 70 years and has therefore insulted the thousands of people who have sacrificed their lives to build a strong nation like India. The nation is developed only because of the Congress rule in the country and the sacrifices that were made”, he added.
Earlier Siddaramaiah spoke about the various development activities undertaken by the government in the state. He stated that during his five year rule as chief minister, all the manifesto demands were met and many additional schemes fulfilled, he added.
Pramod Madhwaraj also spoke on the occasion. Vinay Kumar Sorake, local MLA delivered the keynote address and welcomed the gathering. Abdul Gafoor compered the programme.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress President G Parameshwar, Janardhan Thonse, MLC Pratapchandra Shetty and other leaders were present.
