DAVANAGERE: The Congress party is completely united in Karnataka to defeat BJP and RSS, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while addressing a public gathering at the 75th birthday celebrations of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Rahul Gandhi assured that Congress would provide a clean and honest government that works for the interests of the people of the state.
In his speech, Rahul emphasised three C's --- Congress party, Communal harmony and Computers, stating it was these three that led to the development of Karnataka.
Referring to three murders with alleged communal overtones in the coastal region of the State in the last few days, he said such type of violence had not taken place in Karnataka in the past.
"When we ask people in the United States what they think of Karnataka today, they will say to you that Karnataka never witnessed the type of violence it is facing today", he said.
"They will say to you that when Congress was in power, Karnataka was in harmony", Gandhi added. All communities and religions lived happily here. Nobody was scared, he said.
In an attack against the BJP, Gandhi said, "BJP wants to impose one important issue on Karnataka, that is, to colonise the state. But, it was the Congress party that put Karnataka on the international map. When BJP leaders ridiculed computers, Rajiv Gandhi made Karnataka evolve as a leader in computers", said Rahul Gandhi.
He went on to say that it was Rajiv Gandhi who had put Karnataka on the international map with the Computers (IT sector) that connected Bengaluru and US.
Rahul Gandhi said that the central government's move of demonetisation destroyed small and medium businessmen and also the farmers. "Demonetisation was the transfer of money from the poor to just a handful of eight to 10 rich persons of the country. The second issue was GST, to destroy the lives of poor people, workerers, labourers, and farmers," he said.
After GST, the BJP government implemented three farm acts that pushed the lives of farmers to the brink whereas the Congress government waived off the farmers' loan of Rs 74,000 crores in the country, said Gandhi.
Rahul on Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar hugging each other
"I am very happy to see both D K Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah hugging each other on the stage. Usually, I don't attend birthday celebrations, but my relationship with Siddu made me come here and I like Siddaramaiahji., But I also share his views... I share his compassion for the poor and the weak. I also appreciate the way Siddaramaiahji ran the government in Karnataka. It gave a direction and vision to the people of Karnataka", said Rahul Gandhi.
(With PTI inputs)