Modi to kickstart Karnataka campaign from Kharge’s town
PM’s first meeting to be organised at Kalaburagi on March 16 PM: Marginalised are biggest beneficiaries of govt schemes
BENGALURU: PM Modi will kickstart the BJP’s LS poll campaign in Karnataka by addressing a public meeting in Kalaburagi on March 16, the party’s state general secretary V Sunil Kumar said on Wednesday.
Kalaburagi is the home district of AICC President Kharge, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from there in 2009 and 2014 but lost to BJP’s Umesh Jadhav in the last general elections.
The Congress is likely to field Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani this time, according to party sources.Modi will also address a public gathering in Shivamogga on March 18, Sunil Kumar told reporters at the BJP state headquarters here. “The public meeting will be held at NV Playground on March 16 at Kalaburagi. The event in Shivamogga will take place at Allamaprabhu Ground on March 18.”
Karnataka is the most important State for the BJP in south India as it’s only here that it had held power in the past. The BJP swept the previous LS polls bagging 25 seats out of the total 28 in the State, while an independent backed by the party also won. The Congress and the JD(S) headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, who were running a coalition government back then and fought the elections together, came a cropper winning a seat each. But the political landscape has changed significantly since then.
NEW DELHI: PM Modi said on Wednesday that people from disadvantaged sections like SCs, STs and OBCs are the biggest beneficiaries of his government’s welfare schemes as he accused the previous Congress dispensations of neglecting them and never appreciating their role in the country’s progress. Speaking at the launch of the PM-SURAJ national portal, he cited the election of Ram Nath Kovind and Droupadi Murumu, who come from Dalit and tribal communities respectively, as president to assert that the BJP’s efforts to ensure that those from deprived sections reach top positions will continue. The opposition made every effort to ensure their defeat, he said. Taking a swipe at the Opposition, Prime Minister Modi asked the gathering that consisted of people from disadvantaged groups, “How can anyone say I have no family when I have brothers and sisters like you?” He said his government’s schemes for toilets and cooking gas have benefited deprived sections of society. “SCs, STs, OBCs are the biggest beneficiaries of government welfare schemes for the poor,” he added. The Pradhan Mantri Samajik Utthan and Rozgar Adharit Jankalyan (PM-SURAJ) national portal aims to provide credit support to eligible individuals across the country, including Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, and sanitation workers. This initiative is set to facilitate financial empowerment and enable entrepreneurship opportunities for the most disadvantaged sections of society. PM Modi said one lakh beneficiaries from deprived sections have been given Rs 720 crore assitance till now.