Bengaluru: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unleashed a barrage of criticism against the Congress government led by Mr Siddaramaiah, terming it a '10 per cent commission' government, the Chief Minister hit back, wondering aloud if Mr Modi was morally fit to lead the country owing to "his bundle of lies and politically motivated baseless allegations."
Aware that the PM was preparing the pitch for the BJP campaign in the coming Assembly polls, the CM took him on head-on, saying people had expected him to speak on the Mahadayi row, "but there was no mention of the river water dispute in his speech". Nor was there any reference to farm loan waiver - something the rural community was eagerly looking forward to, he said while reacting to the points made by the PM in his address at the concluding function of the BJP's Parivarthana Yatra .
"Mr Modi should realise he is also the Prime Minister of the country. Instead, he made irresponsible allegations saying we were running a 10 per cent commission government. Let him produce documents to prove it. He should have instead asked former CM B.S. Yeddyurappa, who had gone to jail on corruption charges and was gracing the dais with him, what happened during his tenure,'' Mr Siddaramaiah remarked caustically.
“The last BJP government in the state was one of looters as mentioned in a
Lokayukta report. By announcing a tainted Yeddyurappa as the CM candidate of the party, Mr Modi has promised a corrupt government for the state once again," the Chief Minister contended, charging that "Mr Modi not only supports corruption, but also facilitates it.'' As Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr Modi did not appoint a Lokayukta for nine years for fear of his "corruption being exposed and the undue favours he had done industrialists coming to light," he claimed, speaking to reporters here.
As for the Prime Minister's allegation on the steel flyover project that was shelved under public pressure, he demanded, "How can someone receive a commission for a project that did not take off ?"
Countering Mr Modi's charge on the law and order situation, Mr Siddaramaiah said he should have instead mentioned the top 10 states, which had the worst record like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana, all ruled by the BJP.
Alleging that all communal clashes in the state had started after BJP national chief, Amit Shah's visit to Karnataka, he declared that no matter what he and Mr Modi tried to do, the people of Karnataka would vote for the Congress in the coming elections.
Asked about Congress leader, Ramya's tweet that Mr Modi had spoken as if he was on 'POT', Mr Siddaramaiah responded sharply, "We cannot make such derogatory statements against the PM.”
