Mr Moily also countered charges by BJP that money provided by centre was not reaching people
Veteran Congress leader and former Karnataka chief minister Veerappa Moily totally denied any embarrassment caused to the Congress by the arrest of the son of a Congress legislator for assaulting another man. Mr Moily told NDTV, "No (there was no embarrasment) it has been dealt with accordingly with the law. I don't think he has been spared just because he's the son of a MLA of the Congress party. Nobody will be spared."
He denied any charges that NA Haris, the MLA, or the Congress party intervened in the case - despite the fact that Mohammed Nalapad Haris only surrendered before the police over 36 hours after the crime. "Zero (interference)," he said. "Let them show any instance where we have intervened."
He also made a reference to the incident when asked about a repeated charge made by BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah in rallies in the state that over 20 BJP and RSS workers had been murdered under Congress rule. He said, "Every time a person is killed, they name BJP after their death. It is a very peculiar thing. Even in the case of Vidvat (the victim of the attack), they said he was BJP and immediately next minute Amit Shah said 'he's not BJP.' Like this we have seen many things. Family quarrel, the victim, they say is BJP man. The most unfortunate thing is they don't realise that disruption - the major part is played the by BJP and their parivaar. Have you seen Congressman involved in any of these things? Zero."
He also countered repeated charges by the BJP that money provided by the centre to the state was not reaching the people in Karnataka that it was meant for. "It is absolutely false. Money is due from the central government they have denied. The Prime minister's Sadak yojana not even a pie has come these past four years. Even the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA programme - the money is held up by the central government," he said.
Mr Moily was upbeat about the use of social media in this year's campaign. Both the BJP and the Congress have been engaging in online wars and he said, "We are more than a match on the social media." He added, "We are encouraged by the performances in Gujarat, Rajasthan and also by the by-elections in Karnataka. We will definitely beat these people who are no match to us in Karnataka."
Karnataka is one of the few states being ruled by the Congress - and is also the first state in south India where the BJP have been in power.
Mr Moily is also Chairman of the Congress's manifesto Committee. "We are restructuring the manifesto in such a way there will be a district specific manifesto, regional specific manifesto and also the state specific manifesto. All of this will launch probably between 10th-15th March. Rahul Gandhi, our AICC president will be launching it. He will be launching it In Bangalore and it will be on a big screen," he said.