YADGIR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections with a huge majority and said the party’s government in the state had taken several welfare measures which Congress was unable to provide to people.
Shah also hit out at Congress leader Siddaramaiah over his allegations of step-motherly treatment to Karnataka by the BJP and said people of the state do not believe him. The Union minister, who held a roadshow here, also said that Yediyurappa “is the tallest Lingayat leader” and will hold 110 public meetings in the poll-bound state.
“We have governments in 16 states. Let Siddaramaiah say whatever he wants, the people of Karnataka do not believe it. Our government has performed well. We took schemes for the welfare of the poor to every house. We have provided people with houses, electricity, water, gas, toilets, Covid vaccine and free ration”, Shah said. “These things were not there under Congress’ rule. The people of Karnataka know this very well, and we are going to win with a huge majority”, he added.
Asked if he perceived any area as “weak” for the BJP, Shah said he had toured all “weak areas” and there was a similar enthusiastic response from the people as during his roadshow in Yadgir. “We are going to win by a huge margin”, he asserted.
To a question on Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s remarks, Shah quipped, “Why do you take Priyankaji so seriously? It is always good if people gain wisdom”, he said to another query.
Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday responded to PM Modi’s jibe at Congress over slogans raised during a protest and said every citizen of the country would like the Prime Minister to be in good health. “The Prime Minister came here and said that the leaders of the opposition want to dig his grave. What kind of talk is this? Every citizen of the country would like the health of the Prime Minister to be good. The people of Karnataka should not vote on the words of any leader, but of their conscience”, she said.
Modi had earlier taken a dig at Congress over the ‘Modi teri kabr khudegi’, slogan allegedly raised during a protest after Congress leader Pawan Khera was stopped from boarding a flight from Delhi to Chhattisgarh’s Raipur in February this year.
Shah also took a dig at the earlier Congress government in the state over “religion-based reservation”. “Giving reservation on the basis of religion is unconstitutional. This cannot happen”, he said. Answering a query, Shah said former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is the “tallest Lingayat leader” and will hold 110 public rallies in the state.
Some prominent Lingayat leaders, including former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, have joined the Congress after leaving the BJP.
Earlier in the day, Shah took a jibe at Congress and said it had a “reverse-gear” government. “On one hand, there is PM Modi and CM Basavaraj Bommai’s ‘double-engine’ government and, on the other hand, there’s Congress’ ‘reverse gear’ govt. They (Congress) drive in reverse gear. Whatever development the BJP government does, Congress, with its ‘reverse gear’, brings the situation back to square one”, Shah said while addressing a public rally in Devara Hippargi in Vijayapura district,
He also hit out at the Congress during a rally in Bagalkot and said the party had “insulted” Chief Ministers from the Lingayat community. “Recently, 1-2 leaders left our party. The Congress thinks that this will benefit them a lot. I want to tell Congress that this won’t be benefitting them at all”, he said.
“The Congress has always insulted the Lingayat community. Congress made only two Lingayat Chief Ministers, S Nijalingappa and Veerendra Patil, and both of them were insulted and thrown out of the party. It clearly shows that there is bankruptcy in your party (Congress) when you fight elections depending on leaders who have joined Congress leaving the BJP”, he added. (ANI)