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Cong to hold yatras in K’taka ahead of polls
Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala, who is participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, said the party would organise three yatras in the next few months covering every assembly constituency in the state.
As the Congress’ countrywide Bharat Jodo Yatra passed through Karnataka, the party said on Sunday it would organise similar foot marches in the state to reach out to all sections of society ahead of next year’s assembly polls.
Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala, who is participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, said the party would organise three yatras in the next few months covering every assembly constituency in the state.
“We will undertake yatras in the state covering all three regions and every constituency and will reach out to people to highlight the failures of ‘this 40 per cent commission government,” he said, taking a swipe at the BJP dispensation in the state.
He said the Congress will unite India which the BJP seeks to divide and will strive for promoting peace and brotherhood in society.
He said the BJP has been trying to divide society on the basis of caste, creed and religion, and cited several states where the party has pitted one community against another for electoral gains.
“The aim of this communal divide is only to garner votes,” he charged.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra entered its 32nd day on Sunday and completed over 700 km. The yatra started from Kanyakumari on September 7 and will conclude in Kashmir, completing 3,500 km and passing through 12 states.
“We will make and they (the BJP) will break it. The BJP divides society by spreading hatred and we will try to unite people with love and affection.... They will destroy communal harmony and we will work towards spreading love and brotherhood in society,” Surjewala said.
The Congress leader alleged that the BJP is trying to break the society just as the British and the East India Company had done before Independence.
Surjewala said Rahul Gandhi has promised to provide minimum support price (MSP) for coconut in Karnataka and increase the procurement of ragi under MSP which the BJP government is not doing.
Surjewala said taking part in the yatra was a learning experience for him. For Rahul Gandhi too, communicating with people from all walks of life directly on the road was a new experience, he added.
Rahul’s yatra has no value, says Yediyurappa
Meanwhile, former chief minister and BJP stalwart B S Yediyurappa on Sunday said that Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ has no value as his party would never come to power in poll-bound Karnataka.
“Your (Rahul Gandhi) party’s presence is dwindling across India barring one or two places. In Karnataka, it is somehow breathing. So, he (Rahul Gandhi) is talking whatever comes to his mind, but that is of no use,” Yediyurappa told reporters in Harisandra village in Ramanagara.
He was replying to a query on the possible effect of Bharat Jodo Yatra on the assembly elections next year.
“Congress will never come to power in Karnataka. The State visit and Bharat Jodo Yatra have no value,” he added.
The BJP leader said Priyanka Gandhi had toured Uttar Pradesh during the Assembly elections there and fielded many women candidates, yet the Congress could not win two seats.
Regarding former chief minister and Congress stalwart Siddaramaiah’s charge that the BJP indulged in politics of hatred after the name of Tipu Express was changed to Wodeyar Express, Yediyurappa said Siddaramaiah is fond of appeasing Muslims which is why he spoke like that.
“However, the people of the country and the State have welcomed the decision of changing the name of the train. No one is hurt for changing the name of the train barring a few people like Siddaramaiah,” the BJP strongman claimed.
The Railway Board on Saturday renamed the Tipu Express which runs between Bengaluru and Mysuru as Wodeyar Express.
Yediyurappa said he and chief minister Basavaraj Bommai would tour across Karnataka from Tuesday onwards, covering 50 Assembly constituencies in the State.
