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‘Development, not vote bank our govt’s priority’: PM Modi in Karnataka
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone and inaugurated various developmental projects related to irrigation, drinking water and the National Highway development project in Karnataka’s Yadgir district
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has prioritised development over vote banks and has given the state double engine growth, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, launching the party’s campaign for April-May state assembly elections.
During his visit, the PM laid the foundation stone and inaugurated various developmental projects related to irrigation, drinking water and the National Highway development project in Yadgir district, considered a Congress stronghold. The ruling BJP in the state is pitted against the Congress for the assembly polls.
“Our government’s priority is not any vote bank, our priority is development. You all blessed me in 2014, and entrusted me with a huge responsibility. I know that as long as even a single district of the country remains backwards on the scale of development, the country cannot develop. Therefore, we have encouraged the aspiration of development in those districts which were declared backward by the previous government. Our government started the Aspirational Districts Program in more than 100 such districts of the country including Yadgir,” he said.
PM Modi said the next 25 years are going to be ‘Amrit Kaal’ for every citizen and the state, and a developed India will be built during this period. “We have to build a developed India in this Amritkal. India can develop when every citizen of the country, every family, and every state joins this campaign. India can develop when everyone’s life, whether it is a farmer working in the fields or a labourer working in industries, is better. India can develop only when the crops in the fields are good and factories also expand,” he said.
This is the second visit of the Prime Minister to the poll-bound Karnataka this month. He was in Hubballi on January 12 to inaugurate the National Youth Festival, during which he held a massive road show. The trip also gains significance, as the ruling BJP prepares for Assembly polls in the State and Kalyana Karnataka (Hyderabad Karnataka) region is crucial in the BJP’s electoral calculations.
Aimed at providing safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections to all households, Modi in Kodekal laid the foundation stone for Yadgir multi-village drinking water supply scheme under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Also, a water treatment plant of 117 MLD will be built under the scheme. The project, which costs more than ₹2,050 crore, will provide potable water to about 2.3 lakh households of more than 700 rural habitations and three towns in Yadgir district.
During the visit, the PM also inaugurated the Narayanpur Left Bank Canal – Extension Renovation and Modernisation Project (NLBC – ERM). The project, with a canal carrying a capacity of 10,000 cusecs, can irrigate 4.5 lakh hectares of command area. It will benefit more than three lakh farmers in 560 villages of Kalaburagi, Yadgir and Vijayapura districts. The total cost of the project is about ₹4,700 crore, read a statement from the Karnataka government.
He also laid the foundation stone of 65.5 km section of NH-150C. This 6-lane Greenfield road project is part of the Surat-Chennai Expressway. It is being built at a cost of about ₹2,000 crore. In Malkhed village of Kalaburagi district, he distributed title deeds to the eligible beneficiaries of these newly declared revenue villages.
The Prime Minister said his government is trying to reduce another challenge of North Karnataka like that of connectivity. “Be it agriculture, industry or tourism, connectivity is equally important for all. Today, when the country is laying emphasis on connectivity-related infrastructure, Karnataka is also getting more benefits due to being a double-engine government. The Surat-Chennai Economic Corridor is also going to benefit a large part of North Karnataka. Due to the connectivity of the two big port cities of the country, new industries have opened up in this entire region,” he said.
Taking a dig at the previous governments, Modi said that they didn’t think of how to improve the condition of districts like Yadgir. “We have the example of Yadgir in North Karnataka. The potential of this sector is second to none. Despite this capability, this region was left far behind in the journey of development. The previous governments had washed their hands of their responsibility by declaring many districts including Yadgir as backward. The previous governments did not take time to think about what is the reason behind the backwardness of this area, how to remove the backwardness of this area, let alone working hard,” he added.
Responding to the announcement made by PM Modi, leader of Opposition in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said that the BJP was “feasting on the meals” prepared by the previous Congress government headed by him.
Reacting to Modi distributing title-deeds of houses to the residents of Lambani Thanda, Siddaramaiah said that the BJP is trying to project that it converted Lambani Thanda into revenue villages while actually, it did nothing. “Mallikarjun Kharge made efforts to convert Thanda into a revenue village in 1990s itself. When Kagodu Thimmapppa was the revenue minister in our government, amendments were brought to the Forest Act and Land Reforms Act for this purpose. We made all the preparations to convert Thanda into a revenue village, but the BJP government did nothing in the last three-and-a-half years,” he said.
“We cooked, and they are eating. After we did everything, they are now projecting that they did everything,” he added.
Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar said Modi was coming to give “chocolate” as elections are nearing. “He did not come when people were in trouble due to floods. It will be better if he speaks about his action plan for the employment of youth, why farmers’ incomes have not doubled, why cooking gas prices have not been reduced, why ministers concerned were not made responsible for the PSI scam, about rampant corruption, and about remarks by Yatnal and Nirani,” Shivakumar said.
