Even as his Congress rival C Narayanaswamy gathers support among Vokkaliga voters in Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency, former chief minister and BJP candidate D V Sadananda Gowda has intensified efforts to woo Christians.
Gowda interacted on Thursday with a large gathering of Christian leaders at Atma Nesara Church in Mattikere and appealed to them not to view the BJP as a party opposed to religious minorities.
He reminded the gathering that the BJP government had constituted a Christian Welfare Council and released exclusive grants for the renovation of churches. “I had released grants for renovation of 24 churches in the city. This shows the BJP is a party that is opposed to anti-nationals and it was never an anti-minority party,” he said.
Taking an indirect dig at rival political parties, he said: “The earlier governments had been pampering just one minority community and the BJP had tried to ensure a fair share for Christians too in the funds provided for minority welfare.”
Sadananda Gowda’s move gains significance as the Congress, for the first time, has failed to field even a single Christian in the present Lok Sabha election after promising a fair representation to the community.
The BJP sees this as an opportunity to play up the view that Congress is giving greater importance to Muslims than Christians.
Speaking to Express, B Peter, state general secretary of the Karnataka Christian Rakshana Vedike, who was also present on the occasion, said pastors have blessed Gowda. However, he denied any political discussions on the occasion.
The BJP Minority Morcha hopes to conduct more such interactions. It had earlier held a similar interaction with BJP leaders at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan a month ago.
Sadananda Gowda also conducted a bike rally through the streets of Mahalakshmipuram, Kamalanagar and Basaveshwara Nagar and addressed several road side rallies along with Kannada cine actor Jaggesh. He also addressed employees of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited opposite the factory gates and blamed the UPA government’s policies for the economic slump and worries on the defence front.