KALABURAGI: RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge has accepted the challenge of Kalaburagi MP and BJP candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Dr Umesh Jadhav, for an open debate on the achievements of the Congress State Government and of the BJP government.
Neither the BJP nor Dr Jadhav are in a position to organise an open debate as the saffron party has not done anything on the development front, Priyank told reporters here on Saturday. “But the Congress, when in power in the Centre and now in Karnataka, has done a lot for people,” Priyank said, while listing out the achievements of the Congress.
Priyank asked Dr Jadhav, who has challenged the Congress, to tell which institution he completed his MBBS. “Was it established by the Congress government or not?” Priyank asked. He said it was the Congress which made Dr Jadhav a political leader, as it had fielded him from Chincholi and made him an MLA. “Instead of behaving like an MP, Dr Jadhav behaves like the president of Modi Fans’ Association,” Priyank quipped.
Listing out the achievements of the previous Congress governments at the Centre, Priyank said that his father and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge played an important role in amending Article 371(J) to provide special status to districts in Kalyana Karnataka. “The Central University of Karnataka was established due to the efforts of my father and former CM Dharam Singh. The ESIC Medical Complex was established when my father was the Union Labour Minister, and a Railway Division was sanctioned to Kalaburagi when he was the Railway Minister,” Priyank elaborated. “Let Dr Jadhav list out what the BJP has done for Kalaburagi,” he added.
'3 Rs’ only achievements of Centre, says Priyank
The achievements of the BJP government at the Centre are only ‘3 Rs’ — Renaming, Relaunching, and Repackaging the schemes launched by the Congress, RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge said. “Most of the schemes introduced by the Centre were of proportionate sharing by the State Governments. It means the credit should also be shared by the State Governments,” he said.