MYSURU: KPCC president DK Shivakumar on Sunday hit out at the BJP saying the party was harassing and targeting the Gandhi family “as the Conrgess leaders are growing stronger and would unseat the saffron party from power.”
Addressing Congress workers ahead of the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra here, Shivakumar said AICC interim president Sonia Gandhi and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi are not worried about the charges levelled against them by the BJP and are ready to go to jail just like former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who was imprisoned by the Britishers before independence. Shivakumar said Rahul asked him about his experience in jail and told him that he is not scared to go to jail.
He also hinted at Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi joining Rahul in Bharat Jodo Yatra in Mysuru on October 2. Referring to the success of CLP leader Siddaramaiah’s recent birthday celebrations (Siddaramotsava) in Davanagere, he said, “People reached the venue in thousands of buses. We also saw massive support for our Mekedatu padayatra."
All these programmes have shaken the BJP. A low turnout for the Bharat Jodo Yarta will be an insult to Siddaramaih and myself.” He said Congress workers from all the four Assembly constituencies in Mysuru city should put in efforts to get morning workers, civil society members and students participate in the yatra. “Ensure 25,000 people walk along with Rahul from Mysuru to Srirangatpatna,” he told the workers.
Accusing that the BJP has made Karnataka the “corruption capital of India’’, Shivakumar said there is a Congress wave in Karnataka. Shivakumar, who has been busy organising the yatra, is down with fever. Doctors have advised him to take rest. KPCC working president R Dhruvanarayan is also not keeping well.
‘Anti-conversion Bill passed to target Minorities’
Mysuru: CLP leader Siddaramaiah on Sunday attacked the BJP State Government for passing the Anti-conversion Bill, saying it was passed to target the Minorities and create a sense of fear among them. “The Bill was passed with ulterior motives. The government has been falsely claiming that conversions have increased. They are targeting the Minorities. Dalits, OBCs, Minorities, and the poor are unhappy with the BJP’s rule,” he said. Alleging that there was rampant corruption under the BJP rule in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said, “Even in recruitment of police sub-inspectors there was corruption to the tune of Rs 300 crore. The state contractors’ association has written to PM Narendra Modi over the ‘40 per cent commission’. But Modi who said ‘Na Khaunga, Na Khane Dunga’ is silent.” ENS