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Cong, JD(S) corrupt, dynastic parties: Shah in K’taka salvo
The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) are dynastic, communal and corrupt parties that have exploited Karnataka, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Friday, leading his party’s effort to make inroads in a region dominated by the two opposition parties and where the BJP is traditionally weak.
The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) are dynastic, communal and corrupt parties that have exploited Karnataka, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Friday, leading his party’s effort to make inroads in a region dominated by the two opposition parties and where the BJP is traditionally weak.
Karnataka, which is scheduled to go to the polls in the summer of 2023, is important to the BJP because it is the only southern state where the party is in power and has substantial presence in the state. But despite previous efforts, the party has been unable to establish a foothold in the Old Mysuru region, populated by the influential Vokkaliga community that forms a key vote bank for the JD(S). The region has traditionally swung between the Congress and the JD(S).
Shah alluded to this political tradition in his speech in Mandya district and said both parties were hampering progress in the region because of rampant corruption.
“We have seen administration of both parties. When Congress is in power, Karnataka will become Delhi’s ATM and when JD(S) comes it becomes ATM for a family. Due to corruption in both these parties, progress has been affected in Karnataka. Both the parties are communal, casteist and is full of criminals,” he said in a rally as part of the Jana Sankalpa Yatra.
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Shah said that there had been enough of “JD(S)-Congress, Congress-JD(S)” and urged Mandya to vote for the BJP with a full majority. “In the next five years under the leadership of Modiji, we will take Karnataka forward on the path of progress,” he said.
This is the first major political outreach by a top national BJP leader in the state ahead of the polls. The BJP has been stung by dissension and infighting in the state unit in recent weeks with two senior leaders openly questioning chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, and a number of influential communities pushing for more quotas.
Earlier in the day, Shah inaugurated a mega dairy established at a cost of ₹260 crore at Gejjalagere. Bommai said that the dairy will benefit 100,000 dairy farmers, including women. “The state is prepared for a white revolution after the green revolution. The second-largest dairy in the state, Manmul Mega Dairy, supports thousands of farmers,” Bommai said.
Shah blamed the Congress for ignoring the demands of Indian farmers for several decades and said there were requests to separate the cooperative ministry from the agriculture ministry after Independence. “If someone had worked on it then, today the situation of Indian farmers would have been different,” said Shah, who is also the Union minister for cooperation.
“From this stage I want to tell all those associated with cooperatives across the country that no injustice will happen to them any more, this is the decision of the Government of India,” he said.
He said that the government had decided on a three-year plan to set up a primary dairy in every panchayat in the country under the Union cooperation ministry.
Bommai also targeted the JD(S) and the Congress, and said that despite repeatedly winning in the region, they had failed to push for the welfare of the people. The core Old Mysuru region consists of nine districts — Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagara, Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Kodagu and Chikkamagaluru — accounting for 61 seats.
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While the JD(S) has kick-started the Pancharatna Yatra, a road campaign across the Old Mysuru region from Mulabagilu in Kolar district, and is confident to win most segments, the BJP is also going all out to bolster its base in this Vokkaliga stronghold.
Karnataka Congress spokesperson M Lakshman said Shah’s visit to Mandya will not have any electoral impact in the region. “For today’s programme, the BJP wanted to get 100,000 people. Where were they? Not even 10,000 people were there. People from other districts have come. Mandya is the belt of JD(S) and Congress,” he said.
“Which party is not a dynastic party? Many people in the BJP are from dynastic politics only. Amit Shah is thinking he can do some magic like in Gujarat. That will not work here,” Lakshman added.
Tanveer Ahmed, JD(S) national spokesperson, criticised the BJP.
“Amit Shah has accused that Karnataka will become an ATM for one family or an ATM for Delhi. All the contractors in the state, whom did they accuse of 40% commission? Corruption happened in the health sector during Covid-19 and irrigation projects,” Ahmed said, referring to allegations of corruption in public works given to contractors.
Shah’s visit comes when the BJP is dealing with former chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who recently said he had his own strengths and no one could finish him off politically. On Friday, Yediyurappa skipped Shah’s event in Mandya.
