Congress is ‘deal party’, no one can save it, says Modi
chitradurga — Firing a barrage of barbs at the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday labelled it as a “deal party” that was being uprooted from all over the country and said no one can save it now.
Taking the BJP’s campaign in poll-bound Karnataka to full throttle, he also accused the Congress of “distorting history” as part of a conspiracy to divide the society.
At poll rallies in Chitradurga and Raichur, he flayed the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah for celebrating the “jayantis of sultans” (birth anniversaries of Muslim rulers) for the sake of “vote bank politics”.
He was apparently referring to the Siddaramaiah government’s controversial decision of celebrating Tipu Jayanti every year on November 10, commemorating Tipu Sultan, the legendary 18th century ruler of Mysore.
Modi accused the Congress of protecting the corrupt, adopting a divide-and-rule policy, making false promises and having no agenda other than “abusing Modi”.
Listing out a string of electoral defeats of the Congress, including those in Maharashtra and Tripura, he said, “From every corner of the country, the Congress has gone”.
“...And in Karnataka?” he asked the crowd, which said the Congress will be ousted from power in the southern state as well.
“Now they cannot survive. No one can save the Congress now. For 70 years they have misled and befooled the people,” Modi said, as he continued his campaign blitz across Karnataka where the party is heavily banking on him.
The state goes to polls on May 12. The counting of votes will take place on May 15.
At his rally in Chitradurga, Modi, while referring to corruption charges against a minister without naming him, said:, “The Congress is a party that neither has dil (heart) nor is it pro-Dalit. It is a deal party.”
Targeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the prime minister said he always keeps character certificates ready in his suitcase.
“Whenever an allegation of corruption against a minister is made, he immediately takes out a character certificate, writes the name and tells the people he is honest.
“The time has come to bid farewell to the Congress party that is not interested in your welfare. Make it a clean sweep for the BJP and send this chief minister home as he only goes around giving clean chits,” Modi told the crowd.
Accusing the Congress of sidelining stalwarts like B R Ambedkar and undivided Congress president and former Karnataka chief minister S Nijalingappa, he said the party was interested in promoting only one family and naming “thousands of schemes” after them.
At Raichur, he said the Congress’ “new mantra is spreading lies”.
The Congress has realised its “vote bank politics is shaken” and, therefore, it has started a campaign for “misleading and spreading lies” among Dalits, and asked them to be aware, Modi said.
The prime minister accused the Congress of not allowing parliament to function because it feared he was “gaining the trust of the people by completing his works successfully one after the other”.
He said the Karnataka elections were a contest between the Congress’ “misdeds and people’s aspirations”.
“On one side is the BJP with the mantra of ‘sab ka saath sab ka vikaas (together with all development for all). On the other side is the Congress party that believes in doing everything for one family,” he said.
While the BJP was fighting against the corrupt system, the Congress protects the corrupt, he alleged. The BJP was progressing in politics with the” blessings of people”, while the Congress was dividing people, creating rift between brothers and following a divide-and-rule policy, Modi said. —