CM Bommai terms congress rule as 'Dark Days' in Karnataka

BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday attacked the Congress party and termed its rule from 2013-18 under Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister as ‘dark days’ in the history of Karnataka and that development works came to a halt.

The Chief Minister clarified that he would not change his Assembly seat - Shiggaon in Haveri - and is ready to fight the polls from the same seat in which has been elected to the Assembly thrice on Bharatiya Janata Party ticket in 2008, 2013 and 2018. Earlier, it was said that Bommai would change his seat in the ensuing Assembly polls.

He told a press conference in Bengaluru that his party is trying to ‘unite’ the people while the Congress party tried to ‘divide’ people on religious lines. Owing to the ‘division’ of people on religious lines, Bommai stated that the State reported communal clashes and the law and order situation collapsed during the Congress rule.

The bad governance of the Congress party has been told to the people, Bommai said and alleged that over 50 scams occurred during the Congress regime in the State. He accused the Congress party of ‘weakening’ the Lokayukta institution in Karnataka and instead constituted the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ABC) only to ‘hoodwink’ the people of the State.

Over the 40 per cent ‘corruption’ charges against BJP levelled by the Congress leaders, Bommai said they have failed to provide documents to prove their charges and stated that the Congress party has no moral right to speak on corruption. ‘Had Lokayukta existed (2013-18), over 100 cases against Congress leaders would have been registered,’ he alleged.

He asserted that BJP is ready to take on the Congress party over its ‘miscampaign’, particularly over the internal reservation provided by the State Government.