HUBBALLI: Continuing his tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday said the former had undermined the PM’s office with his repeated lies on several issues. Campaigning for Congress candidate Vinay Kulkarni here on Friday, Kumaraswamy challenged Modi to list out the schemes implemented by the Centre for the welfare of farmers, Dalits, minorities and youths. “Modi didn’t even have the courtesy to listen to the woes of Tamil Nadu farmers who were agitating in Delhi. The PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana was implemented at the fag end of his tenure ... but majority of farmers have not received its benefit,” he said.
Instead of listing out his achievements of the last five years, the PM is saying what he will do in the next five years, the CM ridiculed. “The Centre’s contribution to the state from PMKSNY is just
Rs 2,098 crore... but the state has spent Rs 2,000 crore on giving financial assistance to milk producers,” Kumaraswamy claimed.
Later at a press conference, the CM said the Centre has turned ‘bankrupt’ as it no money to disburse MGNREGA wages. Hitting out at Modi for calling the state government a ‘majboor’ (helpless) government, Kumaraswamy said, “Can the head of the majboot (strong) sarkar explain what he did for the poor, farmers, Dalits, women and minorities in the last five years?”
Criticising Modi for his statement questioning whether the coalition’s vote bank was in Bagalkot or Balakot (Pakistan), Kumaraswamy said, “I don’t need lessons on patriotism from Modi. We don’t know anything about the air strike. I read only media reports. The PM is behaving as if he carried out the air strike. When Deve Gowda was the PM, the Valley was peaceful”
Kumaraswamy lashed out at BJP leader Jagadish Shettar for his alleged remark that Deve Gowda wanted to bring his wife into politics. Terming it ‘weird’ and something which ‘pained’ him, the CM said, “My mother has always stayed away from politics. If she wanted to become a Rajya Sabha member, she would’ve become in the 1990s itself.”
Kumaraswamy's ‘chaiwalah’ jibe taking a dig at PM Modi
For claiming that he has delivered a corruption-free government, the CM asked, “From where did the money come to lure coalition MLAs? Was it the money collected by Modi by selling tea?”. The CM charged that the BJP did not let the coalition government function smoothly.