Congress desperate to win in Karnataka for leaders' sake, says Modi (Roundup)

Launching an all-out attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday claimed that the party was desperate to win the May 12 Karnataka assembly elections, as it was worried about what would happen to its leaders in Delhi if it lost at the hustings.

"Having lost elections in several states where it was in power earlier, the Congress is desperate to win in Karnataka. It is worried about losing the state, as it is worried about what would happen to its leaders in Delhi," he said at a huge BJP rally in the state's Gadag.

Saying the Congress would be reduced to Punjab and Puducherry if it loses in Karnataka, he said at another rally that opposing him had become the only agenda of the Congress.

"For the Congress, only one family is everything. For me, 125 crore Indians are my family. Opposing me has become the only agenda of the Congress. Be it any subject, the Congress objects to everything," he said at a rally in Mangaluru.

Accusing the Congress of spreading lies, he said the party was unable to digest if anyone spoke truth.

Blaming the state government for the alleged murders of about 30 BJP workers and Hindu activists in the coastal region over the last four years, Modi wondered if killing people over political difference was the democracy the Congress practiced.

Taking head-on the two rival parties, he charged the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) with being in tacit alliance for the assembly polls while pretending to fight.

"The people of Karnataka have right to know about the alliance between Congress and JD-S because they pretend to fight in some parts of the state while being together," said Modi at a party rally at Tumakuru, referring to both's tie-up in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

Modi's surprise attack on the JD-S came four days he praised its supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and lashed at Congress President Rahul Gandhi for insulting the latter by terming the JD-S as the "B team" of the BJP.

He also said that his BJP was the only party "that is capable of bringing change in the government and to the state of Karnataka and its people" under the leadership of its Chief Ministerial face B.S. Yeddyurappa.

Charging the Congress of politicising the Mahadayi river water sharing with Goa, Modi told the gathering at Gadag that the state's ruling party was misleading the people on the issue, which was before the Supreme Court and the Inter-State Water Dispute Tribunal.

He however, did not refer to the Cauvery river water dispute Karnataka has with its other neighbouring state (Tamil Nadu) even after the Supreme Court on Thursday directed it to release 4 TMC (thousand million cubic) feet of water by this month-end.

Karnataka has been asking Goa since 2001 to release 7.6 tmcft of the river water to meet the drinking and irrigation needs of its people in the four drought-prone districts of Gadag, Bagalkote, Belagavi and Dharwad.

Addressing a mammoth rally at Shivamogga in Malnad region earlier, Modi said the BJP's mantra was to be with all the people and work for the development of all.

"While 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas' is our mantra, the Congress believes in divide and rule philosophy. It divides people on the grounds of caste. What's more, it even classifies criminals on caste basis," he said.

Noting that spreading lies had become a business for the Congress, Modi alleged that wherever its leaders go, they spread only lies among people, and attacked for still criticising demonetisation.

Campaigning for the BJP across the state for the third time since May 1, Modi addressed the four rallies in the state's northwest, central and coastal regions.

--IANS

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