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Congress trying to separate Karnataka from India: PM Modi
PM Modi accuses Congress of advocating for "separating" Karnataka from India and insulting India's sovereignty.
Concluding his campaign for the May 10 Karnataka assembly polls on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Congress was bringing in veteran leaders for election rallies as it was “scared” and accused it of advocating for “separating” the state from the country.
Also read: Congress called its veteran leader in Karnataka because they are scared: PM Modi
The PM held the second part of his roadshow in Bengaluru, covering the central and eastern parts of the state capital, on Sunday, and addressed two elections rallies in Shivamogga and Mysuru.
At the public meeting in Mysuru, he accused the top leadership of the Congress of indulging in activities that insult India’s sovereignty.
“Not only Karnataka, I want to tell this to the entire country with a lot of pain that in this election Congress’s ‘shahi parivar’ yesterday came to Karnataka and said that they want to protect the ‘sovereignty’ of Karnataka,” he said.
“Do you know what is the meaning of it... When a country becomes independent, that country is called a sovereign country. The meaning of what Congress is saying is that the Congress believes that Karnataka is separate from India,” he said.
In a veiled attack at the Gandhi family, the PM said, “When it comes to working against India’s interests, Congress’s royal family will be at the forefront. I want to speak about a serious issue here, I want to say it as there is a lot of pain in my heart. This country can never forgive such a game. This family, to influence the politics in the country, is encouraging foreign forces to interfere.”
Further accusing the Congress of creating a rift between the states and spreading “communal fire”, the PM said that whenever the party did such things, the people of India united to defeat them.
“I had never thought that the disease of the tukde-tukde gang would reach the Congress’ top level,” he said, accusing the party of insulting Kannada fighters who fought for India’s independence and insulting the patriotism of crores of Kannadigas.
Congress wanted to “somehow come to power in Karnataka” to get “political oxygen”, he said, adding that “people here can never forgive them for this sin... Congress will get the response for this on May 10 with full strength.”
Earlier in the day, Modi addressed a rally in Shivamogga, where he said that the Congress was “scared” because its “lies did not work”.
“Now, the Congress is so afraid and scared that when their lies did not work, then those who are not taking part in campaigning are being brought here. The Congress has started dumping the responsibility of defeat on each other,” he said.
His comment came a day after former Congress president Sonia Gandhi addressed a rally in Huballi-Dharwad – her first election campaign activity since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jagadish Shettar is contesting as a Congress candidate from the constituency.
“Both politics and development work of Congress are only on paper. They can never develop Karnataka. They are just peddling lies. Women of Karnataka were completely neglected by the Congress government in past. They have done no development work for the farmers. BJP has worked for the farmers of the state. Now all the lies of Congress are fully exposed and the BJP will form government with a full majority,” Modi said.
Expressing gratitude for the overwhelming response he received during his roadshow, which was cut short due to the NEET exam, in Bengaluru, Modi said, “I have received so much love from the people of Karnataka, that language is not going to be a barrier between us.”
“The NEET exam was supposed to be conducted today. Hence, I told my party members that our exam might be on May 10, but the children’s exam has to be kept in mind. So, we took out our road show in the morning itself and completed it early,” he said.
The PM’s roadshow was initially scheduled to be an eight-hour affair on Saturday, but was split into two parts to avoid inconvenience to the public. In view of the national eligibility cum entrance test, the BSP further modified the two-day event.
Also read: Karnataka elections: Sonia enters campaign arena, accuses BJP of spreading hate
Targeting the PM and the BJP over the roadshow, the Congress tweeted, “If you look at the roads being blocked and the people locked up inside, it is doubtful that India really got Independence. A woman with a young child had to fight with the police because could not take the auto. Kannadigas have had no benefit from Modi, and now, there is no peace as well. Is this democracy?”
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, at a public meeting in Kalaburagi, said, “Modi keeps saying what the Congress has done in the last 70 years… if we hadn’t done anything in 70 years, you would not have been the Prime Minister of this country. We brought Independence.”
Karnataka will go to polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will be on May 13.
