BENGALURU: The political temperature in the state shot up many notches on Thursday as the BJP National President Amit Shah kicked off his party’s 75-day Parivartana Yatra in Bengaluru. Launching the party’s campaign ahead of the 2018 assembly poll, Shah directed a sharp attack on the Siddaramaiah government, calling it the most corrupt in the country, accused it of appeasement politics and called upon the electorate to bring change by voting the BJP government led by BS Yeddyurappa back to power.
Countering Shah, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah termed the yatra as Paschatapa (remorse) Yatra for the “sins committed by the BJP”, attacked state BJP president Yeddyurappa on the mining scam and said people will bless the Congress government in the poll. Siddaramaiah is also set to counter the BJP yatra with his own Jana Ashirvada Yatra from December 15.
Siddaramaiah added that BJP and its leaders need parivartana, by shedding communalism and adopting secularism.“ The ‘parivartane’ has to be brought about among BJP leaders. They are destroying the fabric of this society in the name of Hinduism. But the people are clever enough to realise what is happening,” Siddaramaiah added.
On Thursday, Shah was at his vitriolic best in his 20-minute address at Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) grounds on Tumakuru road before he flagged off the rally. Citing a media survey, he said the Siddaramaiah government has broken all records in corruption. He referred to the diary seized from the residence of a Congress MLC and how despite I-T raids on premises of Congress ministers by I-T sleuths, Siddaramaiah refused to seek their resignation.Hitting out at Siddaramaiah, who has been accusing the Narendra Modi government of meting out a raw deal to Karnataka in the grant of funds, Shah accused Siddaramaiah of pilferage of funds and misleading the people.
Questioning Siddaramaiah’s resolve to go ahead with Tipu Jayanti celebrations Shah said, Siddaramaiah is more enthusiastic to celebrate Tipu Jayanti than Karnataka Rajyotsava.Shah accused the government of turning the Lokayukta into a puppet.
“People of Karnataka are being looted with projects like the steel bridge. Public money is being swindled,” Shah said and exhorted the people of Karnataka to throw out the “corrupt Siddaramaiah government” and bring back Yeddyurappa government for a clean and transparent administration.
He claimed that central funds were being siphoned off. “Karnataka was allocated `88,583 crore during UPA regime as central grants under the 13th Finance Commission. This has been raised to `2,90,567 crore during NDA regime as per the recommendation of 14th Finance Commission. Where has this money gone?’ he asked.
Low turnout irks Shah
The crowd was much below the 2 lakh figure that state BJP leaders had expected. They accused state govt of preventing BJP workers from entering city
Traffic takes a hit
Traffic was badly affected on Tum a kuru Road and three ambulances were got stuck in the slow-moving traffic on Thursday
Two MLAs join BJP
Chennapatna MLA CP Yogeshwar from Samajwadi Party and Kuduchi MLA P Rajeev from BSR Congress joined BJP