KALABURAGI: The Congress will not survive without corruption as it is the party's oxygen, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Saturday.
Launching his first election rally in Karnataka from Kalaburagi district on Saturday, the Prime Minister alleged that Karnataka is like an ATM to the Congress as the party is in power and is looting the public. The Congress knew that it would not come to power in any state in future and that is why it is following the theory of 'Jitna loot sakta hai loot lo' (steal how much ever you can), he said.
To stop looting by the Congress government, it is necessary to strengthen the hands of the BJP by electing its candidates in good numbers, Modi said. The Prime Minister said that he has understood the pulses of the people of South India as he had visited Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Telangana in the last few days. There is an overwhelming response in every place wherever he visits, he claimed. "Wherever I went, the public were shouting Abki Baar Charso Paar," Modi said.
He also said that the Congress claims that it is a party of farmers, but no pump sets were functioning in the villages and farmers are fed up because of this.
In Karnataka, on the one hand, the state government is claiming that it has started implementing guarantees, while on the other hand its own ministers and legislators say that there is no money with the government for taking up works other than the guarantees, he said.
Modi said that in fact it is his government which has implemented several public welfare schemes but has not named them ‘guarantees’. These include the Ayushman Arogya Bharat Scheme, Kisan Samman Yojana, Jala Jeevan Mission, Ujjwala Yojana and Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana, he said. The Karnataka government has stopped the incentive of Rs 4,000 which the previous state government was giving to the farmers, he stressed.
Over 80 lakh people have taken treatment under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme in Karnataka alone, over 75 lakh houses in Karnataka were given tap connection under the Jala Jeevan Mission, 40 lakh houses in the state were given free gas connection under PM’s Ujjwala Yojana, while more than 8 lakh people were given houses under PM Awas Yojana, he said. In this PM Awas Yojana, hakkupatras of houses were given in the name of the woman head of the family, he added.
The NDA government implemented several welfare measures and also made the country economically strong, the PM added.
Modi who started his speech in Kannada said he has much admiration for Karnataka as this is the place where social reformer Basaveshwara was born and established the Anubhava Mantap in Bidar which was an early form of Parliament. He said he has visited several countries and in his speeches almost everywhere, he mentioned the name of Basaveshwara who has given the concept of democracy in the 12th century itself.
