MYSURU: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday blew the bugle for the 2023 assembly election in Karnataka urging the people of Mandya and Mysuru to vote for BJP in the coming election for the development of the region.
In a sharp attack against the JDS and Congress during the Jana Sankalpa Yatre organised at Mandya University campus, Shah tore into the JDS and the Congress accusing them of looting the state resources for several years and serving as automated teller machines (ATMs) for Gandhi and Gowda families.
"While Congress government was an ATM for the party high command, JDS was an ATM for the family (HD Deve Gowda and family). As both Congress and JDS governments in the past were involved in corruption and looted the state, there has been no development in the state. The double-engine BJP government which believes in nationalism and unity will further take up development activities if it returns to power,” he said.
Shah claimed that Congress and the JDS are corrupt, and communal and have sheltered criminals in the past.
He also alleged that the Congress had ignored and cheated the Dalits and Adivasis for centuries, but it was the BJP who made Ram Nath Kovind and Droupadi Murmu, who belong to Dalit and Adivasi communities respectfully, as Presidents.
“It is the BJP which is working for the welfare of the Dalits and Adivasis in the country,” he said.
"Enough of JD(S)-Congress, Congress-JD(S). This time Mandya, the Mysuru region should make BJP win with full majority. Congress and JD(S) are both parivaarvadi (dynastic politics) parties, they are corrupt parties," Shah said.
Further alleging that both Congress and JD(S) haven't done anything for the progress of Mandya and Old Mysuru region, Shah said BJP got the Mysuru-Bengaluru expressway done, doubling of existing railway line and its electrification, and complemented CM Bommai for the reopening of MySugar factory.
Mandya in the Old Mysuru region is a Vokkaliga community-dominated district, largely seen as a bastion of JD(S), where the Congress too is strong, and the BJP is trying to make inroads.
Former PM HD Deve Gowda and Adhichunchanagiri Mutt seer Nirmalanandanatha Swami were also present at the gathering.
While addressing the gathering, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced an additional Rs 100 per ton of sugarcane for farmers who supply sugarcane to factories which produce ethanol and molasses.
“There has been a demand from sugarcane farmers for a hike in the sugarcane price. So Rs 100 per ton will be given to farmers. During the CNNL meeting which will be held next week, the government will take initiatives to irrigate the fields in Mysuru and Mandya region,” he said.
BJP leader CT Ravi meanwhile continued his tirade against the Muslim community saying that the 2023 election is Tipu vs Wadiyar and Mulla vs Hanuman. He said that the government will set up statues of Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda, who killed Tipu in battle in Mandya district.
"They are the real tigers of Mysuru and not Tipu. Tipu tried to destroy the Kannada language by making Persian an administrative language," he alleged.
Earlier in the day, Home Minister Amit Shah launched the Mega Dairy at Gejjalagere village in Maddur taluk on Friday constructed at a cost of Rs 260 crore. Speaking on the occasion, Shah said that two lakh primary dairies will be set up at the village level across the country in three years.
“The government will set up a primary dairy in every panchayat of the country as part of the white revolution to make the country an exporter in the milk sector,” he said.
In the 2018 polls, the BJP managed to win one seat in Hassan; later in the high-voltage 2019 bypolls, it managed to win the K R Pet seat, its first victory in Mandya district and also won Chikkballapur, another first. Creating a history of sorts, the party bagged the Sira Assembly segment in Tumakuru district for the first time in the 2020 bypolls.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls under the leadership of Modi with 52 per cent vote share, Karnataka got 25 out of 28 seats in Karnataka for the BJP.
(With PTI inputs)