Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during an address in Karnataka's Bengaluru on Friday slammed the state's BJP government. “The most corrupt government in the country is the Karnataka government,” he said. Stepping up his attack, he said, "BJP is working on a financial transfer mechanism - take money from the poor and give it to a handful of rich businessmen in the country."
Gandhi, a Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Wayanad, is on a two-day visit to Karnataka, which is scheduled to hold an Assembly election next year. He was accompanied today by DK Shivakumar, the party's state unit chief, and former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who is also the leader of the opposition. Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, campaign committee chairman MB Patil, former union minister KH Muniyappa, and other senior state party leaders were also present.
Attacking the BJP over rising unemployment, Gandhi said the 'economy of our country is collapsed'. He added, "Unemployment and inflation have increased, these are the biggest issues in the country. Even if BJP wants, they cannot provide jobs to people in India because they have destroyed the employment-providing sectors."
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{{/usCountry}}Sounding the Congress' poll bugle, Gandhi said, "Karnataka has always had the spirit of the Congress party. This is a natural state of Congress. We should be very clear in our mind that we will get not less than 150 seats. We will bring Karnataka back on the track of development."
"It is very easy to find out who is doing real work in Karnataka. We should be deciding tickets based on the work that person is doing for Congress," Gandhi said during the address. He added, "We should not fight the election for a close result, we should fight to make a decisive government."
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Rahul Gandhi's visit to the state comes as the party is set to kick off its 2023 election campaign. Karnataka has been a witness of major turbulence in the political landscape since 2019 - when the Congress-JDS coalition government collapsed. In 2021, the BJP's BS Yeddiyurappa was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai as the chief minister.
(With inputs from ANI)