Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah and Congress party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi have sounded the poll bugle in Karnataka, which is due to go for elections early in 2018.
On arrival, Shah and Gandhi got into a slug fest, taking credit for achievements in the State. Shah spoke of steps taken by the Centre, while Gandhi lauded steps taken by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for Karnataka.
Shah, who is in Bengaluru on three-day tour, said the ‘Victory Chariot’ led by Prime Minister Modi is set to roll into Karnataka.
Gandhi, while speaking in Raichur (North Karnataka), paid compliments to Congress party schemes implemented by the Siddaramaiah government and criticised the Union government for not having waived off farm loans taken from public sector banks.
He also stressed that it was the UPA government that had given article 371-J for uplift of six districts of Hyderabad-Karnataka, which was denied by the BJP.
‘Corrupt rule’Shah, while addressing a gathering of intellectuals on Saturday, said: “In my entire public life, I have not seen any other establishment in India as much corrupt and shameless as Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka. There is limit for corruption.”
In spite of several raids and arrests, the Congress does not punish wrongdoers because they fear they would expose the government, Shah said.
He said that there are 106 central government schemes introduced by the Narendra Modi government, but their benefits had not reached people.
Shah urged people to ask where the grants given by the centre HAD vanished. “You should at least ask Siddaramaiah where the money has gone. If someone asks or not, I am going to come to Karnataka during the run-up to the election and ask for the accounts from Siddaramaiah,” he said.
Later, addressing party functionaries, Shah set the agenda for the party to counter polarisation politics. Also, as part of THE BJP’s strategy, he met spiritual leaders and Mutt heads.
Both the Congress and BJP are gearing up to take on each other as both sense fair chance to woo the electorate in the 2018 Assembly polls.