BELAGAVI, HUMNABAD : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday slammed Congress at BJP rallies in Vijayapura and Belagavi district (Raibag taluk), and dedicated ample time to humiliate the Grand Old Party for its alleged misconduct and failures.
At Koligudda in Raibag taluk, he said Congress humiliated a leader like Dr BR Ambedkar in the past and continues to do so with other leaders. “During his visit to Belagavi (in 1939), Ambedkar admitted that Congress called him an anti-national, a puppet and asura. Now, Congress is targeting me, hurling abuses like ‘Modi Teri Khabra Khudegi’,’’ he said.
But people of Karnataka will support BJP and not forgive Congress for its misconduct, he added. He said Congress neither wanted development nor the prosperity of the poor, SC/STs, backward classes and adivasis. “When BJP and Modi began working sincerely for the country’s development, it is targeting Modi,” he said.
“Ee bariya sarkara bahumatada sarkara (The government this time is the majority government),” he said in Kannada. Congress’ initiatives had adversely affected farmers in the state as it had “a culture of corruption”. It used farmers by playing the “loan-waiver card” that benefited only rich farmers. But the BJP government opened accounts for all farmers and launched the Kisan Samman Scheme to extend direct benefit to farmers, he said.
Earlier in Vijayapura, he said, “The only contribution of Congress to the people of India is its legacy of corruption. Their own prime minister (late Rajiv Gandhi) had admitted that when the Centre grants Re 1, only 15 paise reaches the people.”
Claiming that the BJP government granted Rs 29 lakh crore for welfare schemes, he said, “Just imagine what would have happened to such a large sum if Congress was ruling. Corruption existed from panchayats to Parliament during the Congress government.”
In Humnabad, Modi said Congress did not give prominence to Gorta from where hundreds of people sacrificed their lives fighting Razakars of the erstwhile Hyderabad state. BJP will now construct a martyrs’ memorial there, he said.