Chamarajanagar/Udupi, Karnataka: Launching his election campaign in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress of being obsessed with “politics of dynasty” and dared party chief Rahul Gandhi to speak for 15 minutes on the achievements of the Siddaramaiah government without a piece of paper.
Addressing election meetings, he also charged the Congress with blocking development and blamed it for political violence that led to the death of several RSS and BJP cadres in the state.
Referring to Gandhi’s challenge to face him in Parliament, Modi sought to turn the tables by asking him to speak for 15 minutes on the achievements of the government in Karnataka without reading from a piece of paper.
The prime minister’s attack came in the wake of Rahul Gandhi’s challenge last week that if he was allowed to speak for 15 minutes in Parliament, Modi would not be able to withstand it.
Modi took a dig at Rahul Gandhi saying: “He is correct. There is no way ordinary people like me, who do not even dress well, can sit with such high and mighty people like the Congress President.”
But immediately he changed gear and launched a blistering attack on Rahul Gandhi.
“The Congress President is a ‘naamdaar’. So how does he know about the efforts of ‘kaamdaars’. We are kaamdaars (known by our work).What is our level that we can sit with people like the Congress President who look down upon us,” he asked.
Challenging Rahul Gandhi to speak for 15 minutes on the achievements of the Siddaramaiah government “without reading from any piece of paper”, he said: “You can speak in Hindi, English or your mother’s mother tongue (Italian).”
He also challenged Rahul Gandhi to take Visveswaraya’s name five times in the 15-minute speech.
Modi also lamented that all development in Karnataka has been blocked by the ruling Congress due to its obsession with family politics.
Modi also attacked the Congress for indulging in “family politics” by allowing a party’s leaders’ kith and kin to contest in the Assembly elections and hit out at Siddaramaiah.
“For the Congress, it has always been about family politics. But for us (BJP), it is about people’s politics. People of the state will decide which kind of politics they will choose (in the upcoming election),” Modi said.
Law and order in Karnataka has collapsed under Congress rule, Modi said.
“When the Lokayukta in the state is not safe, how can one expect the common people to be safe under the Congress government?”
Karnataka’s anti-graft ombudsman Justice P Vishwanatha Shetty was stabbed at his office by a man in the state capital on March 7.
The prime minister also attacked former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh over their promises of providing electricity to every village by 2009.
In Udupi, Modi held the Congress government in Karnataka responsible for “political violence that led to the death of several BJP cadres” in the state.
— IANS
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