PM inaugurates projects, reiterates double-engine govt pitch in K’taka

Inaugurating the airport at Shivamogga, built at a cost of around ₹450 crore with a terminal that can handle 300 travellers every hour, Modi spoke of Air India’s expansion plans and purchase orders that have been penned with Boeing and Airbus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday while inaugurating a slew of projects in Karnataka, including a new airport in Shivamogga, reiterated the BJP pitch of a double engine government, and lashed out at the Congress for “insulting” leaders from state, which is set for state elections in less than three months.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves at supporters during a roadshow, in Belagavi. (PTI)

Inaugurating the airport at Shivamogga, built at a cost of around ₹450 crore with a terminal that can handle 300 travellers every hour, Modi spoke of Air India’s expansion plans and purchase orders that have been penned with Boeing and Airbus. He said that under previous governments, Air India was seen negatively, but today it is a symbol of India taking new flight before the world.

“The aviation industry is growing on a large scale. With this, thousands of youths will get jobs,” he said.

The airline was sold by the government to the Tata Group after it went on a loss-making spree.

BJP governments, at the state and the Centre, had taken up projects to improve railway and road connectivity in the region, Modi said, as well as focussing on improving the network of piped drinking water.

Modi’s visit to Karnataka coincided with the 80th birthday of former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who crucially holds sway among Lingayat voters in the state.

With murmurs of disagreements between the veteran leader and the party, Modi spoke about him at length, holding his hand as they emerged on stage, draped a shawl over him, and presented him with a wooden plough. “Today is a special day for one more reason. It is the birthday of Karnataka’s popular leader BS Yediyurappa. I pray for his long life. He has dedicated his life to the welfare of poor people, and farmers…his life will inspire us as well as those from the next generation on how to maintain humility despite attaining the height of success.”

Yediyurappa said, “This event has filled me with joy. The Prime Minister had promised me that the airport will be inaugurated on my birthday.”

Later on Monday evening, Modi addressed a rally and attended a road show in Belagavi, where he targeted the Congress for its treatment of leaders from the state, alleging that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who is from Karnataka, had been insulted at the Congress plenary session in Raipur two days ago. “I have great respect for Mallikarjun Kharge, a son of this land, who has about 50 years of parliamentary or legislature experience. But I was sad looking at how Kharge, who is the president of the party and a senior in age, was treated during the Congress’ session in Chhattisgarh. It was hot…but the umbrella’s shade was for someone standing next to him,” he further said.

Hitting back at the Prime Minister over his remarks, Kharge said, “Narendra Modi ji, under whose umbrella did your ‘best friend’ loot everything in the country?”

“We are Congress persons... standing under the shade of the Tricolour, who freed the country by defeating the ‘Company Raj’, and will never allow the country to become ‘Company Raj’,” Kharge said in a tweet in Hindi.

In Belagavi, the Prime Minister said that the BJP’s double engine government – a reference to the party’s punchline that a BJP government at the state complements the one at the Centre -- benefitted Karnataka’s villages, and its “mothers and sisters.” “Earlier, when the development of Karnataka was discussed, it was limited to big cities, but our government is working to take development to the villages of Karnataka, to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities,” he said.

On Monday, the Prime Minister also disbursed the 13th instalment of money worth ₹16,800 crore to nearly 80 million farmers under the PM-KISAN income transfer scheme. Under PM-KISAN, the government provides income support of ₹ 6,000 a year to farmers with a valid enrolment, paid in three equal cash transfers of ₹2,000—one every four months.