BENGALURU: With just three days left, campaigning in the Karnataka Assembly elections reached a fever pitch with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday launching a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Centre’s handling of the economy and accusing him of stooping low in his attacks on political rivals.
Singh and his party President Rahul Gandhi, who was campaigning in Kolar, also alleged that the government had collected Rs 10 lakh crore in taxes on petroleum products but refused to pass on the benefit of low international crude prices to the common man.
Under relentless attack from Modi and other BJP leaders, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah issued a notice of defamation against Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and BJP’s Chief Ministerial face B S Yeddyurappa for their attacks on him on corruption like “sidda rupiah government”.
On his part, Modi rejected the Congress accusation against his government of not creating enough jobs and claimed that several of its initiatives led to the creation of jobs in public and private sectors.
Addressing a press conference here, Singh said: “No Prime Minister in our country has used the Office of the Prime Minister to say things about his opponents that Modi has been doing day in and day out. It doesn’t behove a Prime Minister to stoop so low and it is not good for the country as a whole as well.”
He added: “Petrol and diesel prices in India are at a historic high. This is in spite of lower international crude oil prices because the Modi government chooses to levy excessive excise taxes.
“Instead of passing on the benefit of low prices to the people, the Central government has sought to punish our people,” the Congress leader said.
“During our (UPA government) tenure (2004-14), in the face of high crude oil prices, we cushioned the common man against their effects. Since the present government assumed power, the international oil prices declined 67 per cent, but petrol and diesel prices have increased 110 per cent,” he said.
Singh, who had also been a finance minister, said the BJP-led NDA government had projected to earn over Rs 10 lakh crore through constant increase in taxes at the cost of the common man. “We must demand answers as to what use this money was put to? A healthy economy requires a well-functioning banking sector. Neither banks are lending nor is the private sector borrowing to make new investments.”
The Modi government’s “lack of reasoning and analysis was affecting India and our collective future”, he said.
Manmohan Singh also railed against the government for not making good in terms of growth rate despite favourable international climate.
Rejecting the Congress accusation against his government of not creating enough jobs, Modi, in turn, held the Congress responsible for the unemployment situation and accused it of opposing technologies/initiatives like the EVMs and Aadhaar.
“With emphasis on public and private sectors, we are also focussing on personal sector for employment. The pace of work on the infrastructure projects has been increased,” Modi said in response to a query while addressing Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha ‘karyakartas’ through his NaMo app. — IANS
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