Karnataka polls: 'No vote bank politics, we are for development,' says Modi

The Bharatiya Janata Party government stands not for votebank politics but for development, declared Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (January 19) at Yadigiri in poll-bound Karnataka, his second visit in a month.

Targeting the Congress without naming it, Modi said earlier governments had shirked their responsibilities declaring Yadgiri and surrounding regions of north Karnataka as backward. “Our government’s priority is not vote bank, our priority is development,” he said, reported PTI. Further, referring to the double engine government (BJP governments both at Centre and State), Modi said, “It means double welfare. You can see how Karnataka is benefitting by this.”

Speaking after laying the foundation stone and inaugurating various developmental projects related to irrigation, drinking water besides a National Highway development project at Kodekal, he said the next 25 years is going to be ‘Amrit Kaal’ for every citizen and state, and we have to build a developed India in this period.

“India can be developed when there are good crops in the fields and industries expand too,” the PM noted.

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The Prime Minister is in Karnataka to lay the foundation stone and inaugurate a bevvy of development projects valued at over Rs 10,800 crores in Yadgiri and Kalaburagi districts.

11 crore families getting tap water

Water security is necessary for the development of 21st century India, said PM Modi, inaugurating several infrastructure projects in Karnataka on Thursday afternoon. “We brought development and good governance in those districts that were announced backwards by the previous governments,” PM Modi said in Yadgiri.

“When Jal Jeevan Mission started 3.5 years ago, out of 18 crore rural households only 3 crore rural households had a tap water connection. Today, about 11 crore rural families in the country are getting tap water,” he added.

From drone technology and the modern farm-facilities to the push towards organic farming, everything has been existing now in the area, said Modi, adding that he wishes for the further prosperity of Yadgir and once again extend his best wishes to all the people before concluding his address in Yadgir.

PM Modi in Kalaburagi

Later, PM Modi will arrive in Malkhed in Kalaburagi district, where he will distribute title deeds (hakku patra) to the eligible beneficiaries. The visit comes ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka which will go to polls in May.