Our manifesto voice of K'taka: Rahul

Congress president Rahul Gandhi continued his tirade against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in poll-bound Karnataka. On Friday his roadshow continued in coastal town of Mangaluru accompanied by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and other top leaders of the party. He released the party manifesto for elections and said, “It is the mann ki baat of the people.” He said the manifesto is the reflection of the people’s wishes and was brought after extensive consultation with the people.

"This manifesto is unlike Prime Minister’s Mann ki baat, where he reveals what he likes to do,’’ Rahul said after releasing the  manifesto at T M A Pai international convention centre in Mangaluru.  He said addressing party workers it was not just an election manifesto but  but the voice of people of  Karnataka. He said the manifesto committee had interacted with communities, at block and district level in order to listen to what is good for them.

He took a dig at BJP and said ”on the other hand, the BJP’s manifesto would be decided by three or four people guided by the RSS. There would also be some amount of corruption and some ideas from the Reddy brothers.”

The manifesto which contains overall development of the State like a budget paper touching all the areas speaks about Kannada pride to Basaveshwara(keeping in mind Lingayats) and  many promises to the people.

Rahul said,  “Karnataka is the guiding force of the country” and added that “Karnataka respects everyone.” He said  Congress believed and practised Basaveshwara’s ideology Nudidante Nade (do as you say) and had delivered 90% of promises made during the 2013 polls. He slammed Modi and said it was easy to garland a Basaveshwara statue and pose for pictures. “The BJP and Modi failed to deliver their promises and instead indulged in corruption, including the Raffale deal,” he said. “A State will not have a future if its region is not respected,’’ Rahul added.

Siddaramaiah the man of the moment for the Congress party defended his work and said there was no anti-incumbency factor against his government, which was a natural phenomenon. He claimed that 98% of the promises had been delivered.  He said Karnataka’s best practices are appreciated by the Centre, including online market for Agri products through APMCs (agriculture produce marketing committees) at taluk levels.

Rubbishing BJP’s claim that law and order had collapsed in state under Congress, Siddaramaiah  said had there been any merit in BJP’s charges Karnataka would not have been ranked first among the states in country for foreign direct investment. He thanked people of  Mangaluru for upholding secular principles and foiling Modi’s grand plans to turn the coastal districts into a hindutva laboratory.  Of the total 19 seats in three coastal districts, Uttara Karnataka, Udupi and DK districts, Congress had won 13 seats in 2013  and BJP had won just four seats.  

Manifesto committee chairman M. Veerappa Moily, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha M Mallikarjuna Kharge, senior leader B Janardhana Poojary and others were present.

Rahul Gandhi  also became the first congress president to visit all the 30  Karnataka districts  during his crisscrossing the  poll bound state. Gandhi, who had kicked off his Karnataka election tour from Bellary almost 100 days ago, has crisscrossed the entire state.

The BJP was quick to criticise the Congress manifesto and said it lacks vision and unable to fulfil the promises it made.  BJP's national spokesperson Sambit Patra  said "I don't consider this manifesto a manifesto. Congress's manifesto has no vision, no mission and is all about the commission."

He also blasted Siddaramaiah government for not being able to perform in the last five years and accused the government of corruption "I have a whole document showing how most of your [Congress's] plans that you promised in 2013 didn't work out. You [Congress] promised Rs 50,000 crores will depend on irrigation Shalini Krishna basin and you [Congress] spent only Rs 6,000 crore rupees, " said Patra.

In another development  the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has set up a two member committee to probe the incident of technical snag in the chartered plane which carried Rahul Gandhi and others to election bound Karnataka. The incident happened during landing of the flight from New Delhi at Hubballi in north Karnataka on Thursday. Alleging "intentional tampering" with aircraft, the Congress party had demanded a probe into the "suspicious and faulty performance" of the 10-seater Falcon aircraft. The Congress party also have filed a complaint with the Karnataka police. A congress source claimed that Prime Minister Modi spoke to Rahul Gandhi and enquired about the incident.