Continuing his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday alleged that in the history of independent India, Mr. Modi had to be the PM “who has uttered the maximum lies”.
Addressing a convention of Congress workers at Koratagere of Tumakuru district, he said Mr. Modi had brought shame to his post by “telling so many lies”.
He said Mr. Modi had promised to bring back the black money stashed by Indians in foreign banks and deposit ₹15 lakh into the bank account of each citizen within 100 days of coming to power. But even after four years of coming to power, he has failed to deposit any money into the bank accounts. “He has not kept his promise after coming to power, which proves that he was lying,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
“Sitting between BJP leaders B.S. Yeddyurappa and Katta Subramanya Naidu, who had gone to jail on corruption charges, Mr. Modi termed my government corrupt. He should have restrained himself from saying so, keeping in mind that he was sitting alongside [those two] and Janardhana Reddy,” the CM said.
Later, launching an attack on the Janata Dal (Secular), Mr. Siddaramaiah said leaders of that party were opportunistic. “JD(S) State president H.D. Kumaraswamy wants to become Chief Minister and is waiting to side with the political party that falls short of majority in the eventuality of a hung Assembly. But the JD(S) will not win more than 25 seats in the Assembly polls,” he said.
In his speech, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Parameshwara said he was not against internal reservation among Scheduled Castes.
He said some people were spreading misinformation saying that he was against the implementation of the recommendations of the Justice A.J. Sadashiva Commission’s report on internal reservation. He said he would discuss the issue with MPs Mallikarjun Kharge, K.H. Muniyappa and others.
Black flags
When Mr. Siddaramaiah came to inaugurate an Indira Canteen, members of Madiga Sangagala Okkootta displayed black flags demanding implementation of the commission’s report. The police immediately took them into custody.