BENGALURU: On a mission to whip up a pro-BJP wave and realise a Congress-mukt Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made all the right noises at his first public rally, ahead of the assembly election, here on Sunday. However, his strategy of skirting the vexatious Mahadayi water sharing issue handed the opposition a needle to deflate the momentum which Modi was trying to infuse into the BJP’s campaign.
Addressing a rally of about 1.5 lakh people to mark the culmination of party’s chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’ at Palace Grounds here, Modi struck a chord with the gathering by attacking the Siddaramaiah government, highlighting issues of corruption, rising crimes, crumbling infrastructure in Bengaluru and the plight of farmers.
He even invoked Kannada pride by starting and ending his speech in Kannada. The crowd, which was pleasantly surprised, went delirious with chants of ‘Modi’, ‘Modi’. In fact, the chants resounded across Palace Grounds even while state leaders were addressing the gathering as they were eager to hear only Modi speak and no one else.
Modi reiterated that Yeddyurappa will be the party’s choice for CM if the BJP is voted to power, putting to rest any speculation in this regard. But he disappointed people of northern Karnataka who were expecting a positive message from him on resolving the Kalasa-Banduri dispute through mediation with BJP-ruled Goa. Farmers of northern Karnataka are agitating for a negotiated settlement on the drinking water project and had even given a call for Bengaluru bandh on Sunday, which was banned by the High Court. The issue may hurt BJP’s prospects in the Assembly polls.
10% commission govt
Hitting out at the Siddaramaiah government as a regime steeped in corruption, he termed it as ‘10% commission government’. “You cannot get any work done without paying 10% commission. This is the identity of this government. Then how can you trust this government?” he asked the huge crowd, to thunderous applause. He accused Congress leaders of being involved in the commission racket and said the recent IT raids on Congress leaders had exposed this.
Now, a TOP acronym
PM Modi redefined what he means by the term ‘TOP’ priority of the NDA government. “When I say TOP, I mean whichever part of the country you go, three vegetables are very much visible — Tomato, Onion and Potato.”
K’taka insulted: KPCC
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G Parameshwara accused Modi of ‘insulting Karnataka’ by calling it a ‘state of criminals’ where there was an ‘ease of committing murder’.