VIJAYAPURA: Congress leaders, including Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and former chief minister Siddaramaiah, campaigned for party’s Sindagi bypoll candidate Ashok Managuli at Moratagi in Vijayapura district on Monday.
The bypolls to Sindagi and Hanagal will be held on October 30. Addressing a public gathering, Kharge said the victory of the Congress in the bypolls will send a message to the BJP and its leaders that people are unhappy with the administration. “By winning the bypolls, we ill not form the government. But the defeat of the BJP will be a clear message to PM Narendra Modi and his colleagues that people are intimidated with the regime,” he said.
Accusing the BJP of coming to power in at least six states in the most undemocratic way, Kharge said, “The party uses illegal tactics such as luring elected MLAs and threatening them using agencies like the Income Tax Department to form its government.”
Criticising the BJP for its ‘divisive politics’, Kharge said, “I challenge political parties, mainly the BJP, to seek votes on the basis of development instead of provoking people with religious sentiments. There are a few political parties that claim to be secular during polls. Once such party emerges victorious, then joins hands with communal parties like the BJP. So, people should be aware of such parties,” Kharge remarked, without naming the JDS.
Siddaramaiah hit out at the Centre over soaring inflation. “Even the youth are struggling to make a living by selling pakodas as the prices of cooking oil have skyrocketed. Modi has increased the government’s debt to over Rs 82 lakh crore, while it was less than Rs 50,000 crore when the Congress was in power,” he said. “BJP leaders, including Bommai, are afraid to demand the state’s GST share.
The Centre is meting out step-motherly treatment to Karnataka. The State Government is making efforts to turn the entire state saffron. Police were seen celebrating Ayudha Pooja wearing kesari clothes. People should not vote for money and religious intentions,” warned Siddaramaiah.