MANDYA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday sounded the bugle for the 2023 Assembly polls in Karnataka by urging the people of the state to vote for the BJP for the development of the state.
Addressing a gathering during the BJP’s Jana Sankalpa Yatra at Mandya, a Vokkaliga bastion, Shah tore into the Congress and JDS and termed them dynastic parties.
He accused them of looting the state resources for many years and serving as automated teller machines (ATMs) for their party leadership.
“While the Congress government was an ATM for its party high command, JDS was an ATM for a family. As both parties were corrupt, there has been no development in the state. The double-engine BJP government (at state and Centre), which beliefs in nationalism and unity, has been developing the state in a big way,” he said.
Accusing the two parties of being communal and sheltering criminals, Shah alleged that Congress neglected and cheated the Dalit and Adivasi communities for centuries. “BJP made Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit, and Droupadi Murmu, an Adivasi, Presidents of India. It is the BJP which is working for the welfare of these two communities in the country,” he said.
Referring to the recent ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Shah said that the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government had withdrawn 56 cases against 1,700 PFI cadres, but it was PM Modi who banned the PFI and sent its leaders to jail. The government also scrapped Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, to end terrorism in the state, he added.
Will bring more industries to Mandya: CM
Shah said that Ram Mandir in Ayodhya would be completed and opened for devotees on January 1, 2024. “While the BJP wanted to build the Ram Mandir, the Congress approached the court against the construction. But PM Modi laid the foundation stone for the construction of the temple.
The BJP also developed Kedarnath, Kashi, Badrinath and other Hindu pilgrim centres in the country,” he said. CM Basavaraj Bommai announced an additional Rs 100 per tonne of sugarcane for farmers who supply sugarcane to factories which produce ethanol and molasses.
“We will also start production of ethanol in MySugar factory to improve its revenue and make it a profitable unit. We will bring more industries to Mandya,” he said. BJP leader CT Ravi said that the 2023 Assembly polls will be “Tipu vs Wadiyar” and “Mulla vs Hanuman”.
“It was Nalwadi who gave water to Mandya and not Tipu Sultan. It was Nalwadi who built the dam, industries, educational institutions, and not Tipu,” he claimed. Ravi said that the government will construct statues of Uri Gowda and Dodda Nanje Gowda, who, according to him killed Tipu in the battle in Mandya. “They are the real tigers of Mysuru, and not Tipu,” he said.