ATHANI: The BJP is engaged in dirty communal politics just to please voters for the sake of power, alleged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday, adding that the Congress only believes in doing development works to garner voters’ support to win elections.
Addressing a campaign meet in support of Congress candidate for Chikkodi Lok Sabha Priyanka Jarkiholi, at Ugar Khurd in Belagavi district, Siddaramaiah claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been giving fake assurances and delivering “sub-standard speeches” to please voters. His speeches are more on communal hatred and less about development works, he alleged.
Siddaramaiah also stated that Modi’s allegations that Congress has insulted Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Kittur Rani Chennama were not true. “It is me who started Rani Chennamma Jayanti celebrations and established the Sangolli Rayanna Memorial at Nandgad in Khanapur,” he said.
The CM added that the BJP is always against reservations. “When Congress government imposed reservation during local body elections, the BJP had strongly opposed it,” he said, adding that the Congress has assured 25 guarantees if it comes to power, which include loan waiver for farmers, depositing Rs 1 lakh in the bank accounts of every woman, and more. He assured that the work on the Basaveshwara Irrigation Scheme at Kagwad would be completed at the earliest.
Siddaramaiah also assured the people that the state government will approach Maharashtra and convince it to release 2 tmcft of water into River Krishna and resolve all other issues. “BJP MP Annasaheb Jolle has not carried out any development works during his tenure as Lok Sabha member, nor has he spoken about any issues in connection with Karnataka or the Chikkodi Lok Sabha constituency in Parliament till date,” he further claimed. Siddaramaiah called upon people to vote in favour of the Congress for the overall development of their constituency.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar challenged Modi that if he had the ability, he should implement welfare schemes and reservations for the Schedule Castes/Scheduled Tribes in the states ruled by BJP, which Congress has implemented in Karnataka. He alleged that the Union Government displayed stepmotherly treatment while providing funds for drought relief work in Karnataka recently. He claimed that “during the Covid pandemic, when BJP MP Suresh Angadi passed away in Delhi, the Centre showed little interest in arranging a special flight to bring back Angadi’s body to his hometown”.