Cong, JD(S) in secret pact to stop BJP juggernaut in K’taka: Modi
TUMAKURU (Karnataka): Firing a lethal political missile during the final week of campaigning for the do-or-die Karnataka Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the Congress and JD(S) have entered into a “secret” pact and that former PM H D Deve Gowda’s JD(S) is “protecting” the Congress. Addressing an election rally here, Modi alleged that the Congress, for years, spoke about poverty eradication only to garner votes, while neglecting farmers and the poor.
“Poll surveys, political pundits... everyone is saying the JD(S) cannot defeat Congress. They cannot form government. If anyone can change the government in Karnataka, it is the BJP. If anyone is protecting the Congress, it is the JD(S)... Congress and JD(S) have a secret understanding... an understanding behind the curtains,” said Modi, who only a few days ago had showered praises on JD(S) patriarch Deve Gowda.
The Congress, Modi demanded, must make it clear if it had a secret understanding with JD(S) or not. He said it was with the support of Deve Gowda’s party that the Congress had its mayor in Bengaluru. “Why are you hiding this? Congress should have the courage to speak out the truth to people.”
Modi, however, insisted he still has respect for Deve Gowda, who had announced before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls that he would commit suicide if he became the prime minister. The prime minister said that despite Deve Gowda opposing him, when he came to the southern state of Karnataka for campaigning during the Lok Sabha elections, he said the JD(S) leader should live for 100 years and serve the society.
Modi had showered praise on Deve Gowda at a rally in Udupi last Tuesday and castigated Congress president Rahul Gandhi for “insulting” the former prime minister. But two days later at a rally in Bengaluru, Modi asked people not to “waste” their votes by backing Deve Gowda’s party as it was going to finish “a poor, distant third” in the elections.
Modi said that the Congress, which ruled the country for decades, with “one family” in power for most part, neglected the poor and farmers. “Garibi, garibi, garibi (poverty, poverty, poverty) was their constant rant. But once the son of a poor mother became the prime minister, they clammed shut...now they don’t talk about poverty,” he said.