Vote for Congress, save Karnataka government, says Mallikarjun Kharge
Mysuru: Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday made an impassioned plea to voters of Gundlupet to vote for Congress candidate Geetha Mahadev Prasad saying, “This election is no ordinary one. You should elect the Congress candidate and save the state government.”
Addressing a public rally at Raghavpura, he said, “If the Congress wins, it will be a boost to the state government to take up more developmental projects. We will launch tank filling work in the taluks at a quicker pace.”
Taking potshots at demonetisation, he said those who filled the BJP coffers and those who sided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not face any implications. Nor did he spare BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa saying, “BJP leaders allege that Congress leaders looted the country but did any Congress CM go to jail? Did any Veerashaiva CM like S. Nijalingappa, Veerendra Patil or S.R. Kanti go to jail? Did Prime Ministers like Pandit Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri loot the country? Dalit leaders were given major portfolios in Congress governments, has the BJP government done this? I appealed to the PM to waive farm loans taken from nationalised banks several times, he said the government did not have funds. But they have the money to waive Rs 1.27 lakh crore worth loans of big companies. Can you still call the BJP government pro-farmer? I served as MLA for 43 years and the credit goes to the Congress party. But some people think if they are not there in the Congress, the party will not be there which is not true,” he said in an indirect attack on leaders who had quit the party in the recent past.
KPCC President Dr G. Parameswar while addressing a press meet at Gundlupet said, “BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa who never visited Chamarajnagar when he was CM, promises to adopt Gundlupet now. The BJP dreams of coming to power by maligning us. The way they are making allegations confirms that we will win both byelections.”
To a question on more Congress leaders likely to join BJP, he replied, “I have a list of 20 big BJP leaders who will join the Congress. I will release it during the assembly elections.”
On whether police officers were being misused by the Congress government, he said, “The Election Commission is conducting the bypolls, the officers are designated by the Commission.”
