DAVANGERE: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sounded the poll bugle for 2023 assembly elections at a mega party event in Davanagere on Wednesday. “Congress party is completely united to defeat the BJP and RSS in Karnataka,” declared Rahul, while speaking at the 75th birthday celebrations of former chief minister Siddaramaiah at Shamanur Palace Grounds on the outskirts of Davanagere.
“The Congress will provide a clean and honest government that will work for the welfare of the people of Karnataka,” he said. The senior Congress leader trained his guns on the BJP accusing it of dividing society.
Amid reports of a rift between Congress heavyweights Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief D K Shivakumar, Rahul said it was a happy moment for him to see both the leaders hugging each other at the event, which, he said, shows how united the Congress is in Karnataka.
‘People in US say Cong ensured peace’
Rahul said Shivakumar has done tremendous work in organising the party in the state.
Referring to the three murders in coastal Karnataka, he said such violence had not taken place in the past. “When we ask people in the US what they think of Karnataka today, they say the state never witnessed the type of violence it is facing today. They will say when Congress was in power, communal harmony prevailed in the state”.
Taking potshots at the BJP-led Union government, he said demonetisation is the biggest achievement of NDA. It was the process of transferring money from the poor to the corporate bigwigs who are friends of the prime minister. After demonetisation, the government introduced GST which was anti-farmer, and because of this, small and medium businesses collapsed leading to unemployment. It was designed in such a way that a handful of PM’s corporate friends survived, he alleged. “The anti-farmer farm laws were then brought in but we fought against them forcing the government to repeal them”.
He also claimed that MGNREGA, farm loan waiver, food guarantee Act, RTI and other schemes were introduced by the UPA government for equitable distribution of resources among the public. However, the BJP on other hand was trying to snatch away the resources meant for the public and hand them over to several wealthy people, he alleged.