Dynastic Congress, JD(S) responsible for Karnataka political instability: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (April 30) blamed the two “dynastic” parties, the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular), for political instability in Karnataka, saying they “encourage corruption”.

Speaking at a public meeting in Channapatna, Ramanagara district, which is a JD(S) bastion, the BJP veteran alleged that both parties saw Karnataka as an ATM and found opportunity in instability.

“The Congress and the JD(S) are responsible for the instability. They pretend to be two separate parties but are one at heart. They are together in Delhi. They assist each other in Parliament,” Modi said.

Also read: Karnataka polls: Cong associated with 85 per cent commission, says PM Modi

JD(S) second-in-command HD Kumaraswamy, son of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, won the 2018 Assembly election defeating BJP’s CP Yogeshwara from Channapatna constituency and the battle is set to be re-enacted this time.

“Both encourage corruption”

“Both (Congress and JDS) are dynastic parties and encourage corruption,” Modi said. “They see an opportunity in instability,” he added.

Hitting out at the JD(S), Modi said the party had openly declared that if it got 15 to 20 seats in the election to the 224-member Assembly, it would be the kingmaker. This selfish approach may benefit one family, but it causes losses to lakhs of families of Karnataka, the Prime Minister said.

He also alleged that every vote to the JD(S) would straightaway go to the Congress and bring instability in Karnataka. “Whenever the Congress and the JD(S) come to power, some families thrive, but for the BJP, every family of India and Karnataka is the party’s own family,” Modi said.

Also read: Congress has abused me 91 times: PM Modi at Karnataka poll rally

“When the BJP’s double-engine government came to power, bank accounts of 3 lakh people were opened in Ramanagara. Here, 2.5 lakh families got insurance cover, 50,000 became eligible for Atal Pension Scheme, and 7,000 concrete houses were sanctioned,” he claimed.

“False loan waiver”

Congress is synonymous with betrayal, Modi alleged. “It has betrayed farmers. Congress used to employ its energy to create a system that would burden farmers under debt and then used to pretend about loan waiver,” he said.

In 2008, the Congress declared a “false loan waiver”, the Prime Minister claimed, adding, “This loan waiver was only for those associated with the Congress.”

“When crores of marginal farmers did not have bank accounts and the doors of banks were never opened for them, how were those marginal farmers benefited when the loan waiver was announced?” Modi remarked.

According to him, farmers were forced to borrow money from private bankers in the open market. The benefit of the loan waiver did not reach farmers but their brothers and relatives (of those belonging to the Congress).

Also read: Karnataka: Kharge’s ‘poisonous snake’ jab has become a toolkit for BJP

The money “reached corrupt people”, Modi said, adding, “Truth is that the loans of not even 10 per cent farmers were waived. This is the track record of Congress.”

The Prime Minister said the Congress leaders were “roaming around with fake guarantee schemes” but the reality was that their every guarantee and promise was a “bundle of lies”.

Modi reiterated his party’s slogan of “Ee Baariya Nirdhara, Bahumatada BJP Sarkara” (This time’s decision, majority BJP government).

This was Modi’s fifth public meeting in the past two days in Karnataka, which goes to polls on May 10.

(With agency inputs)