Congress stoops to any level to retain power: Amit Shah

Charging the Congress with dividing the people over caste, creed and religion, BJP President Amit Shah on Thursday said the ruling party in Karnataka will stoop to any level to retain power but will not succeed this time.

"Though the Congress stoops to any level to retain power, the people who could see through its ploy will teach a lesson in the May 12 state assembly elections and bring the BJP to power again," said Shah at a party rally in the state's northwest region.

Terming the Siddaramaiah government as the most corrupt in the country, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief said the ruling party had become an ATM (any time money) for its high command in Delhi.

"As the Congress government has gone into slumber, I am sure the BJP will form the next government under the leadership of B.S. Yeddyurappa and put an end to five-year misrule of Siddaramaiah," said Shah on his second visit to the erstwhile Karnataka-Bombay province ahead of the crucial polls.

The BJP, which came to power for the first time in the southern state in 2008, lost to the Congress in the May 2013 assembly elections after Yeddyurappa parted ways and formed the Karnataka Janata Party.

He returned a year later and won from the Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat in May 2014 general elections.

"As the Congress is a broken house and confused, I am confident of our party coming back to power with majority in the state," asserted Yeddyurappa on the occasion.

The party's leader in the assembly Jagadish Shettar, BJP Dharwad Lok Sabha member Prahlad Joshi and Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrashekar also participated in the rally.

Blaming the Congress of fanning hatred in the country and playing divisive politics, Shah said the wise people understood its sinister tactics and defeated its candidates in state after state since 2014.

"It's turn of the Karnataka people to free the state from the Congress and time up for (Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah to go home," said Shah at a party event at a village in Ron local body of Gadag district, about 60 km from here.

Holding the state government responsible for about 3,500 farmers committing suicide due to agrarian crisis over the last 5 years, the BJP chief said though the central government had released funds for irrigation projects, the farmers did not benefit as many of them could not be completed due to delays and graft.

Earlier in the day, Shah visited Siddharoodha mutt at Hubballi and took blessings of its seer Paramarooda for the party's victory at the hustings. He also visited the memorial of Kannada poet Da Ra Bendre at Dharwad.

--IANS

bha/fb/pgh/