Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Assembly Jagdish Shettar said here on Sunday that All India Congress Committee president Rahul Gandhi has begun chanting the Hindutva Mantra to reap the votes of Hindus in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Speaking to presspersons after a night’s stay in a slum near Rajnagar, Mr. Shettar said that the Gandhi scion had been chanting the secular mantra earlier. Now, Congress leaders have realised that without the support of the Hindus they will not be able to secure power again. It is this reason why Mr. Gandhi is trying to lure the Hindus by visiting temples. But the BJP will expose his fake Hindutva, he said.
The BJP leaders plan to stay in slums is not an election strategy but a genuine attempt to understand and sort out the problems of the slum-dwellers. The Congress has made it a habit to sense political agenda in whatever the BJP does, he added.
On Mahadayi river water sharing issue, Mr. Shettar said that Mr. Gandhi should speak out on this issue. The AICC chief has not mentioned about it at all in his speech. It shows that the Congress is not serious about finding a resolution to it, Mr. Shettar added.
Mr. Shettar went for a morning walk with other party leaders in Chamundeshwari Nagar and heard the problems of the residents and tried to solve them on the spot. Later, he and Pralhad Joshi, MP, released a booklet brought out by the BJP Slum Morcha: “Problems of slums”.
Mayor D.K. Chavan, BJP leaders Nagesh Kalburgi, Tippanna Majagi, Venkatesh Mestri and others were present.
