Taking a dig at both BJP and Congress leaders who are levelling charges against each other on ‘commission’, former Chief Minister and State President of Janata Dal (Secular) H.D. Kumaraswamy has said that he would appeal to the public to vote out both the national parties to end ‘percentage politics’.
Mr. Kumaraswamy, who has been touring districts of North Karnataka after announcement of the first list of candidates for the Assembly polls, told presspersons in Hubballi on Thursday that the response shown by the people to his tour had given him confidence his party would win at least three to four seats in each of the districts of North Karnataka.
Referring to sarcastic statements by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others about the chances of JD(S) in the election, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the people would give answer to them by electing the party to power.
Lambasting both the national parties for lack of ‘issue-based discussion’ ahead of the election, Mr. Kumaraswamy said both were now focusing on North Karnataka but were not interested in discussing issues concerning the State. “I am also touring North Karnataka, but won’t go to the level of getting cheap publicity. I will also not pose for photograph eating pakoda, mirchi or mandakki (puffed rice) for the sake of publicity”, he said.
Questioning the rationale behind the ‘mushti dhanya’ camapaign launched by the BJP, he sought to know how many houses of the farmers who had committed suicide had been visited by BJP State President B.S. Yeddyurappa. “BJP leaders earlier collected bricks and also money for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. Till date no account has been for the money collected. This is nothing but another of way of playing politics with the emotions of the people”, he said.
Questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his repeated reference to corruption in Karnataka, he sought to know whether Mr. Modi would initiate inquiry against illegalities in power purchase in Karnataka during BJP rule. He also sought to know from Mr. Siddaramaiah what action he had taken on the report of the House Committee led by Congressman T.B. Jayachandra.
‘Vision government’
Unlike the ‘mission’ and ‘commission’ governments of the national parties, JD(S) would form a ‘vision government’, he said expressing confidence that the party would come to power this time as the voters were inclined to make him the Chief Minister. He also expressed confidence that the following that he had in North Karnataka would definitely get converted into votes this time.
On the announcement regarding huge sums of money being released for irrigation works, Mr. Kumaraswamy sought to know how much water had flown in these ‘canals’ built by the Congress government.
Mahadayi issue
Taking exception to BJP national president Amit Shah’s statement on Mahadayi, the JD(S) leader alleged that Mr. Shah and other BJP leaders were deliberately misleading the public on the issue. He said it was a known fact that when an inter-state water sharing issue was before the Tribunal, a State government could do nothing whereas the Union government could intervene. “However Mr. Shah has issued a statement that if voted to power BJP would resolve the issue, which is highly impossible”. Mr. Shah and other BJP leaders were trying to dupe the voters, he said.
Mr. Kumaraswamy said the Union government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had the authority to resolve the issue. However Mr. Modi had not done so for his own political reasons. Meanwhile, AICC President Rahul Gandhi, who speaks of the issue, did not have the courtesy to even meet the farmers from the Malaprabha command area despite having given an assurance to talk to them, he said.
The people of the region were closely watching the developments and would teach them a lesson in the election, Mr. Kumaraswamy said. Instead of mitigating the hardships of the farmers both the parties were engaged in mud slinging, he added.
