Congress President, Rahul Gandhi launched his party’s campaign for the Karnataka assembly polls here on Saturday while charging Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi with making false promises to the electorate and harping on the past.
He said instead of looking ahead , he preferred to hark back to the past adding that it was like depending on the rear view mirror instead of looking at the road in front while driving. Mr Gandhi also echoed the charges that he has been making against the Prime Minister on the controversial Rafale jet fighter deal and the grant of lands worth several thousand crores to a private company to produce a small car. Where is the production happening now? ,was his constant query.
The Congress president sought to build an emotional bond with the people of Ballari who had voted in favour of his mother, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, during the elections to the Lok Sabha in 1999. This was his first major campaign in the state since assuming charge of the Congress party recently.
He, however, did not refer to the fact that Mrs Gandhi,who won after a stiff contest with Mrs Sushma Swaraj of the BJP, chose to give up her Bellari seat while retaining Amethi from where she had contested too.
Urging the people to favour his party which was known to keep its promises, a clear reference to chief minister Mr Siddaramiah’s tenure, he promised to deliver more handsomely if it was voted back to power.
In this context, he made special mention of the schemes initiated by the ruling Congress in the state including loan waiver of farmers, provision of subsidised food through the Indira canteens along with the related social welfare schemes.
He sought to draw a comparision between the “unfulfilled promises” made by Mr Modi and his party during the 2014 elections ,especially those relating to the” crediting “of Rs 15 lakh each in the bank accounts of the poor people. Likewise, he underlined the NDA government’s failure to fulfil its promise of generating over two crore jobs every year.
In contrast, he said the Siddaramiah government had worked quietly for the benefit of the state and its people while highlighting that Karnataka had developed not because of one man but through the collective efforts of its people.
This was a clear dig at Mr Modi who, he charged, had repeatedly claimed that it was under him as chief minister that Gujarat had witnessed a sea-change in terms of development. The farmers, traders and others in that state, however, were irked by the fact that Mr Modi was claiming credit for something that they were responsible for.
In fact, according to Mr Gandhi, the people of Gujarat were annoyed by the fact that the benefits of their efforts had been palmed off to a select few industrialists in that state. Expressing his indebtedness to the people of Bellari for electing his mother, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, in 1991 , the Congress president said he would always be at their beck and call. In this context he also referred to the special status that the UPA government had granted to north Karnataka following which people of the region could, today, benefit substantially. This was because more hospitals, jobs and opportunities had been created with the central government pumping in huge sums.
Taking credit for ensuring the grant of the special status under Article 371 J to north Karnataka, the Congress president said the proposal was given a big push by Mrs Sonia Gandhi and his party, notwithstanding the stiff opposition from the BJP, particularly, its leader,Mr Lal Krishna Advani.
The Congress president also attacked Mr Modi for accusing his party and the Siddaramiah government of alleged corruption even as he had no qualms in promoting Mr B S Yeddyurappa, state BJP leader, as the party’s chief ministerial candidate. Mr Gandhi said during the latter’s tenure as the state’s chief minister, corruption had reached a new low in the state.
Ironically, even as he attacked Mr Yeddyurappa and the BJP government in the state for the massive mining scam, he had no reservations in inducting Mr Anand Singh of the BJP into the Congress party. Mr Singh was one of the major accused in the minng scam.