Modi cites Siddaramaiah’s example to target Congress party’s ‘dynasty’ politics

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday cited the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his son Yathindra in the fray from three Assembly constituencies in election-bound Karnataka as an example of “dynasty politics” in the Congress party.

Beginning his 15-venue election tour across Karnataka from Santhemarahalli in the border district of Chamarajanagar, Mr. Modi said Mr. Siddaramaiah was contesting from two constituencies - Chamundeshwari and Badami - as he was gripped by “fear of losing.”

Referring to Mr. Yathindra’s candidature from Varuna, Mr. Modi said the Chief Minister’s family was contesting from three constituencies “as the family would be able to continue in politics if they win from at least one constituency.”

He took a dig at the Congress and said the party was adopting a ‘2+1’ formula to perpetuate dynasty politics.

Apart from the Chief Minister, the Congress had given tickets to the kith and kin of some of its Ministers, he said.

Criticises Rahul

Training his guns on Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Mr. Modi dared him to speak without referring to a prepared text on a piece of paper.

Recalling Mr. Gandhi’s claim that the Prime Minister will not be able to listen to his speech for 15 minutes in Parliament, Mr. Modi sarcastically said that the Congress president speaking for 15 minutes would in itself be an achievement.

The Prime Minister also poked fun at Mr. Gandhi's inability to pronounce the name of Sir M. Visvesvaraya, the engineer-dewan of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore. “Try to pronounce Visvesvaraya’s name at least five times in your speech,” he said cheekily.