Hitting out at the Prime Minister over his “91 abuses” made by Congress leaders remark, Rahul Gandhi, said that the PM should not make the Assembly elections about himself and rather speak about the “people of the state and its future”.
The former MP also claimed that the party would only get 40 seats in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, referring to the “40 per cent commission” barb, and appealed people to give the Congress party at least 150 seats, way past the magic number of 112, so that, “they (BJP) don’t buy MLAs and bring down the democratically-elected government”.
“You (Modi) come to campaign in Karnataka for elections, but don’t speak about Karnataka. You speak about yourself. You have to say what you did in Karnataka for the past three years. You also have to speak in your speeches about what you will be doing in the next five years, what will do for youth, education, health and to fight corruption,” Gandhi said, addressing a public meeting at Turuvekere in Tumakuru district.
“This election is not about you, it is about Karnataka’s people and its future. You say Congress abused you 91 times, but you never speak about what you did for Karnataka. In your next speech, you speak about what you did and what you will do in the next five years,” the 51-year-old leader, who recently lost his status as an MP, following his conviction in a defamation case, further added.
PM Modi on Saturday targetted Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge over his “venomous snake” remarks and claimed that Congress leaders have hurled abuses at him for 91 times.
Gandhi further said that he speaks of party leaders, including former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar and the works undertaken by them, however, the same is not followed by PM Modi, and suggested him to take names of incumbent CM Basavaraj Bommai and former CM Yediyurappa, who has retired from electoral politics, saying that “it will make them happy”.
“We take the names of all our leaders. You (Modi) come here and don’t even take the name of your Chief Minister (Basavaraj Bommai) and (B S) Yediyurappa (former CM). Your speeches are all about Narendra Modi.”
“This election is not about one person, not about Narendra Modi. Prime Minister has to understand this,” Gandhi asserted.
Further, Gandhi also highlighted Congress’s poll ‘guarantees’ — 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Sakhi).
Accusing the BJP of being involved in corruption and taking “40 per cent commission in all kinds of works” in the last three years, Gandhi alleged that the saffron party “looted common man and poor” instead of doing public works.
“It is not that the Prime Minister is not aware of this corruption and 40 per cent commission. He is aware of everything…so my question to PM is despite knowing about this loot for the last three years, did you take any action? You did not. Why? You should answer this to the people of Karnataka,” he said.
He also urged the Prime Minister to answer what he did to get Karnataka its right share of tax money, how he helped the state during floods, and how he tried to resolve the inter-state water dispute between the three states of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.
Voting in the state will take place in a single phase on May 10, and counting of votes will be on May 13.