Weeks after Bengaluru made national headlines for a crippling water crisis, with visuals of people queuing up near tankers flashing on TV screens, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a scathing attack on the ruling Congress in Karnataka, saying the party turned "tech city into a tanker city". Hitting back, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has asked where the Prime Minister was when Karnataka suffered due to floods and droughts.
The 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka are voting in two phases in this election, with the polling due on April 26 and May 7. All Bengaluru seats will go to polls on April 26.
At a rally in the city days before polling, the Prime Minister said he wants to take the country ahead and accused the Congress of being "anti-investment, anti-entrepreneurship, anti-private sector, anti-taxpayer, anti-wealth creator".
"Modi says he will make the country a green energy hub, pharma hub, electronics hub, electrical vehicle hub, semiconductor hub, and a global innovation hub so that India becomes a hub of Global economy. But the people of Congress and the INDI alliance say they will remove Modi," he said.
"It is Modi's guarantee that after 5G, we will now launch 6G, they say they will remove Modi. It is Modi's guarantee that we will bring AI, but they say they will remove Modi. It is Modi's guarantee that after Chandrayaan, we will now make India proud of Gaganyaan, they say, they will remove Modi. Congress is anti-youth because it is anti-investment, it is anti-entrepreneurship, it is anti-private sector, it is anti-taxpayer, it is anti-wealth creator," he added.
The Prime Minister said the BJP and Janata Dal-Secular have come together to fulfil the dreams of Karnataka's people.
"I guarantee that your dreams are my resolve. My life is dedicated to you and the country. I promise 24X7 for 2047," he said, referring to the goal of making India a developed country by 2047.
"Congress has turned tech city into a tanker city. The budget is being cut from agriculture to urban infrastructure. Congress is only focused on corruption, and not on the problems of Bengaluru. Only the projects of the central government are moving ahead fast," he said.
"The kind of thoughts and ideology being promoted by Congress government in Karnataka is very dangerous. Our daughters are being attacked, bombs are exploding in markets, and people are being attacked for listening to religious songs, these incidents are not common. I urge my brothers and sisters to stay very alert of the Congress," he added. The statements come in the wake of the murder of a Congress leader's 21-year-old daughter in Hubbali, and a blast in Bengaluru's Rameshwaram Cafe and the thrashing of three youngsters, allegedly for raising "Jai Shri Ram" slogans.
In a sharp response, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah posted on X, "Claims of working 24x7 for the people, yet where was he during Karnataka's floods and droughts? So, what's the real story behind this '24x7'? Sounds like it's all PR, all the time!"
The Chief Minister also hit back at the Prime Minister's remarks in Karnataka's Chikkaballapur, where he said Karnataka is the biggest example of how the Congress "deceives" the farmers.
"We started the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme for small and marginal farmers. When Karnataka had a BJP government, the farmers of the state received Rs 10000 each, Rs 6,000 from the central government and Rs 4000 from Karnataka's BJP government. But as soon as Congress formed government in the state, it stopped giving Rs 4000 to the farmers," the Prime Minister said.
The Chief Minister replied that the Prime Minister must ask his conscience if he is really a well-wisher of farmers. Referring to the 2020-21 farmers' movement on Delhi borders, he asked about 700 farmers who died during the protest and questioned the Prime Minister's moral position to talk about farmers.
The Centre, he said, was still not ready to fulfill the farmers' demand for a law to guarantee Minimum Support Price and has imposed GST on seeds and fertiliser.
The BJP, he said, was anti-farmer from the beginning. "It is the party of capitalists, businessmen and traders. Anti-farmer poison is in the DNA of this party," he said, questioning what the Narendra Modi government has given to Karnataka farmers during its 10-year-rule.
He said Karnataka's farmers are intelligent enough to understand who their well-wisher is and will teach "anti-farmer" forces a lesson in the election.
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