Credit: DH Photo
AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge said that there is an invisible undercurrent against the BJP in the country and this has prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to organise rallies and roadshows in the run-up to parliamentary elections.
Addressing a Congress rally while the party's candidate Radhakrishna Doddamani filed his nomination papers here on Friday, Kharge expressed confidence that the I.N.D.I.A. bloc will come to power at the Centre.
Accusing the BJP of giving clean chit to leaders after they join the party, he said that Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have a “washing machine” to clean the tainted leaders once they join the BJP. He said the Congress has fulfilled its promise by implementing all the five guarantees. "The BJP government has not done even 10 per cent of the development works that I did as the Union minister for five years during the UPA regime," he claimed.
He said: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been visiting Karnataka frequently. But, he does not speak about the work taken up by him for the Gulbarga constituency. The Centre has failed to contribute to the infrastructure development of Kalyana Karnataka after the special status was accorded to the region under Article 371J of the Constitution. It has not established any major industries and has also failed to fulfil the demand for setting up AIIMS despite having a building and land there,” he alleged.
Stating that the BJP has resorted to “tod-phod’ to form its government by destabilising elected regimes, Kharge said that the party adopted such tactics in Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and several other states. He asked the party workers to take revenge against the defeat of Congress in the previous parliamentary polls. The Congress has announced 25 guarantees, including depositing Rs 1 lakh in the bank in the name of the woman head of the family every year. The party is committed to implementing it after coming to power, he added.
“Modi is inducting RSS leaders in government agencies, depriving power to others. The BJP has failed to keep its promise to generate two crore jobs each year and to increase the minimum support price for farmers’ produce. But, we aim to develop Kalyana Karnataka and provide social justice to the poor by following the principles of Basavanna and Dr Ambedkar. It is an election to protect the Constitution and democracy”, he said.