New Delhi
With the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 fast approaching, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a campaign blitzkrieg in the poll-bound southern state, to add heft to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) efforts to unseat the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government. In the first of his three rallies scheduled for Tuesday, the prime minister addressed the public in the Chamarajanagara district’s Santhemarahalli. At the rally, Modi said that he sensed a “BJP storm” in Karnataka and that B S Yeddyurappa was the hope of the state’s people. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, for his part, said Modi’s rallies would not have any impact on the people of the state. At present, Narendra Modi is addressing a rally in Karnataka’s Udupi.
Meanwhile, a day before Prime Minister Modi landing in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah posed a series of questions aimed at him over the BJP giving tickets to ‘tainted’ mining baron G Janardhan Reddy’s brothers and associates, declaring B S Yeddyurappa as its chief ministerial candidate, and raising the issue of rapes in the state while also giving tickets to rape-accused candidates.
Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi at the rally in Santhemarahalli, Modi said that due to over-excitement, the newly elected Congress president had forgotten decency, since he had not congratulated the hardworking ‘mazdoors’ because of whom India’s villages were getting electricity. Modi added that Gandhi was a “namdaar“, so how could he know about the efforts of “kaamdaars“.
At the Santhemarahalli rally, Modi said that Rahul Gandhi had challenged him that if the latter spoke for 15 minutes, he would not be able to stand in front of him. “Yes, you are right, you are a ‘naamdar‘, what right do we ‘kaamdaars‘ have to even sit in front of you,” said Modi. Further, Modi dared Gandhi to speak for 15 minutes on the achievements of the Congress government in Karnataka without reading from any piece of paper. “You can speak in Hindi, English or your mother tongue,” said Modi. BJP’s official Twitter handle said that Gandhi’s mother tongue was Italian.
BJP chief ministerial candidate Yeddyurappa, for his part, said that the BJP would form the next government in Karnataka with an absolute majority because of a ‘Modi wave’ in the state. The state BJP chief also said the saffron party was campaigning as a “united force” to achieve the mission of winning 150 seats in the May 12 Assembly polls.
Also in the fray, Janata Dal (Secular) chief ministerial nominee H D Kumaraswamy told news agencies that he would emerge as the “king” and not a “kingmaker” after the Karnataka Assembly Election 2018.
Polling for the 224-member Karnataka Assembly will be held on May 12 and the results would be declared on the 15th of the month.
