Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who kicked off a high-voltage campaign for the May 5 Karnataka assembly polls on Tuesday, launched a frontal attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government in the state, and said that his party would heal all the wounds of the people and fight for their rights.
“There was a time when there used to be a sparkle in Karnataka. Whenever anybody used to talk about Karnataka, be it in Delhi, Japan or America, they used to talk about the sparkle in Karnataka. They used to talk about Karnataka, saying there is employment in Bangalore. People used to come to Bangalore from far off places,” said Gandhi, while addressing an election rally here.
“In the last five years, the BJP and its leaders have removed the sparkle in Karnataka. Why Karnataka used to sparkle? It used to sparkle only because of all of you. Your sweat and hard work enabled it to sparkle. It sparkled because of the farmers labour and because of all the youngsters standing here,” he added.
Gandhi, who will also campaign in Bagalkot and Bijapur, said a state moves ahead on the strength of its people.
“In the last five years, your government has hurt the people. Did you all enjoy in the last five years? Did you get angry? Why you got angry with the BJP?” he asked.
Gandhi further said that the people trusted the BJP during the last assembly elections and made it victorious.
” They had made a lot of promises to you. They told you that we will provide electricity for 24 hours. Did you get electricity for 24 hours? They told you that we will provide employment. Did the youngsters standing here get employment and work?” asked Gandhi.
“The government forgot about employment, electricity, and water. They remembered only one thing is how to loot the money of the people of Karnataka and they have done this in the last five years. And I would like to tell you one thing that they (BJP) are the masters of this work. No one is better than them in this work,” he added.
Gandhi also drew attention of the voters to the illegal mining in Karnataka.
“They say that there is corruption in Delhi, but gave power to two brothers in Karnataka. And then they say that corruption should be eliminated. We just want an explanation that if they are against corruption then what has taken place here in the last five years. What happened to the talk of corruption?” asked Gandhi.
“We will not make tall promises to you. We will only heal your wounds. The Congress Party will fight your fight. We gave MNREGA to you and the whole country, but MNREGA was closed here. One thing has become very clear here that The BJP will lose the elections here and which can be heard till Delhi. The Congress Party will talk about development and do developmental works after the polls,” he added.
An estimated 2,295 candidates have entered the fray for the assembly polls in Karnataka.
Elections to the 224-member Karnataka legislative assembly are to be held on May 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on May 8. (ANI)