‘Modi morally unfit for PM’S post’ SOME COME INTO ‘Bihar-like grand POLITICS FOR alliance to topple IMAGE: RAHUL BJP in 2019 polls’
RIPOSTE Siddaramaiah accuses BJP of running govt of looters when in power, says PM lying about law and order
BENGALURU: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday called PM Narendra Modi “morally unfit” to hold the post after he accused the Congress government in the poll-bound state of supporting corruption.
Siddaramaiah’s riposte came after Modi said in a rally on Sunday that Karnataka has a “10% commission government” and promised that the BJP would root out corruption if voted to power in elections scheduled this May.
“Even if Modi makes 100 visits to the state or (BJP chief) Amit Shah engineers communal riots, we will win the upcoming state elections,” Siddaramaiah said.
He accused Modi of having supported and facilitated corruption by failing to set up a Lokpal in the past four years, and by not naming a Lokayukta for nine years when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. “He did not speak like the Prime Minister of this country,” Siddaramaiah said. “According to me, he is morally unfit to be the Prime Minister,” he said.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the BJP in Karnataka ran a government of looters. “The Lokayukta had given reports about how much ill-gotten wealth had been generated through illegal mining,” he said.
“[Former CM BS] Yeddyurappa was sitting next to him when he accused us of corruption. There is nothing more shameful than this,” he said. “There is nothing more shameful than the PM of 1.3 billion people stooping to Yeddyurappa’s level.”
Siddaramaiah questioned Modi’s understanding of the Constitution, saying he and Shah were unaware of the difference between a state’s share from taxes and grants given by the Union government. This was in response to the BJP repeatedly pointing out that the state had received ₹3 lakh crore.
“Where do the central government’s taxes come from? It is collected from states,” Siddaramaiah said. “Karnataka contributes 9% of the total taxes collected in the nation, which is the third highest. But we get only 4.65% from the Centre,” he said, asking the BJP about this discrepancy.
Siddaramaiah criticised Modi for failing to speak about farmers’ problems at the rally. “Farmers were hoping he would speak about their distress, that he would say he will intervene in the Mahadayi water-sharing dispute, but he did not,” he said.
Siddaramaiah accused Modi of lying about the state’s law and order. “
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, Karnataka accounts for only 5% of the total crimes in the country. BJPruled states Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are way ahead,” he said.
Reacting to the comments, the BJP said the state government appears rattled by the support Modi received. “PM Modi won the mandate of the people and the whole world respects him. Such politically motivated statements are being made because Siddaramaiah is desperate as he knows he will lose,” said Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda. NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said there are two types of people in politics: one, for whom projecting one’s image is primary and the other, who bring about institutional change.
Addressing a seminar on ‘Defending Democracy’ held in the memory of late former union minister and Indian Union Muslim League leader E Ahamed in Delhi, Gandhi did not name anyone. “There are those for whom politics is all about themselves. About improving their image, perception about them. Everything is centered around them. And then there are those for whom everything is about other people and I think E Ahamedji was one of those people,” he said.
Ahamed, 78, died of a cardiac arrest on February 1 last year, hours after he collapsed in Parliament during the then President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to joint sitting of both the Houses.
Meanwhile, the Congressslammed the NDA government on Monday for its “divisive and anti-people” policies. “Don’t divide the country. Return back our India. We don’t need a new India... We don’t need the India where there is polarisation for vote bank. What kind of a new India is it where eight-month-old girls are being raped?” said Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad in Parliament. RANCHI: Hours after meeting Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad in Ranchi jail on Monday, former Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav said they were working on a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance), on the lines of the one which took on the BJP in Bihar, for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Yadav, who broke away from the Nitish Kumar-led JD (U) and now heads his own faction, landed in Ranchi on Sunday and met former chief minister and chief of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-prajatantrik (JVM(P)) Babulal Marandi.
He was accompanied by Marandi and JVM(P) legislator Pradeep Yadav to the jail on Monday for meeting Lalu Prasad.
“Drawing inspiration from the success of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar (in 2015 assembly elections), we are planning to replicate it across the country during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. I had discussion with Lalu ji on the issue,” said Yadav.
He also lashed out at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for breaking ties with the RJD and joining forces with the BJP.
The act, he said, was against the people’s mandate who had voted for the alliance.
Yadav also slammed the BJP in Jharkhand for allegedly violating the 10th schedule of the constitution, related to defection of JVM (P) MLAS.
“They (BJP) lured six JVM(P) legislators to join their party but the legislators continue to serve their posts. On the contrary, I was disqualified from the Rajya Sabha for defection,” he said.
Babulal joining the meeting between the two leaders holds significance for Jharkhand’s politics because the opposition parties have been rallying to form an alliance against the incumbent BJP government at the Centre and in the state.
Assembly elections in the state are due in November next year.
While the Congress, RJD and the Shibu Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have had alliances in the past, the JVM (P) and JMM have not forged any tieups so far.