Rahul: PM steers country by looking in rearview mirror
Modi chooses to speak about past when country faces issues, says Cong chief ete city.
The BJP, which is looking to unseat the Congress, is projecting Lingayat strongman Yeddyurappa, 74, as its chief ministerial candidate.
The rally marked the start of “Janashirvad Yatra” of the ruling Congress in the state, where polls are expected early this year. The tenure of the present Assembly ends on May 28.
Gandhi said unlike the Congress, Modi had failed to deliver on promises.
“He said he would put ₹15 lakh in people’s accounts. Not one rupee has been given. Then, he said he would give 20 million jobs to youth every year. When we asked in Parliament, he said only 450 people get employment every day.”
The Congress president said even among those jobs, most were generated in Karnataka. He said chief minister Siddaramaiah had delivered.
“Modi ji please learn from chief minister Siddaramaiah. He looks ahead. Doesn’t look for excuses, waives farm loans, provides canteens in cities and helps the oppressed,” Gandhi said. After the rally ended around 5pm, Gandhi visited the Huligemma temple revered by Dalits in neighbouring Koppal district.
He also went to Gavisiddeshwara Math, a Lingayat monastery in Koppal.
The Congress launching the yatra from mine-rich Ballari triggered talk of symbolic significance. Congress parliamentary HOSAPETE(BALLARI): Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was making excuses instead of fulfilling promises, and steering the country by looking in the rear-view mirror rather than ahead.
“If you (Modi) keep looking only in the rear-view mirror, you will land in potholes... make mistakes such as demonetisation and Gabbar Singh Tax (a term the Congress president often uses to describe GST),” Gandhi said at a rally on day one of his four-day tour of poll-bound Karnataka.
Targeting Modi’s recent speech in Parliament, where he attacked the Congress, Gandhi said the country was facing many issues, especially farm distress, unemployment, and attacks on oppressed classes, but the Prime Minister chose to speak only about the past.
He said Modi spoke for one hour in Parliament on the motion of the thanks on the President’s address, but did not utter a word about the controversy on the Rafale fighter jet deal with France.
Gandhi alleged that the Rafale deal was the biggest issue of corruption in the country.
“Not one word on Rafale. In Karnataka, he stands with (former chief minister BS) Yeddyurappa in whose time lots of scams happened,” he said at the rally in Ballari district’s Hosap- party chief Sonia Gandhi had made her maiden entry to Parliament from the district in 1999, when she defeated BJP leader Sushma Swaraj in a fierce contest. She gave up the Ballari seat, and represented Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
I MADE A MISTAKE BY GROOMING KARNATAKA CM, SAYS DEVE GOWDA
Former PM Deve Gowda said grooming Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah was his “biggest mistake.”
“He (Siddaramaiah) is a mean chief minister,” Gowda said while complaining that he was not given an opportunity to speak during the inauguration of Mahamastakabhisheka of Lord Gommateshwara Bahubali at Shravanabelagola on Febru- ary 7, which was attended by President Ram Nath Kovind.
Stating that his name was printed on the invitation as former Prime Minister and chief minister and as Lok Sabha member and speaker at the event for “namesake”, he said “but I had no chance to speak. The chief minister who is mean to this extent, has grown from this party (JD-S). Is he a chief minister? How long will you stay? I will see. I have taken a vow. I will today seek apology from the people of Karnataka for grooming such an immoral politician,” he said.
“Grooming such a lowly chief minister is my biggest mistake. I will repeatedly say he is unfit to continue in the post,” a visibly upset Gowda remarked at a party event.