Modi targets Siddaramaiah for ‘2+1 formula’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi resumed his election campaign in Karnataka on Tuesday by launching an attack on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and mocking him for contesting from multiple seats “fearing a rout”.

He accused the Chief Minister of adopting a “2+1 formula” — Mr. Siddaramaiah contesting from two seats and his son contesting from one. Describing it as Mr. Siddaramaiah’s “innovation” in dynastic politics of the Congress, Mr. Modi said the Chief Minister’s family was contesting from three seats as the “family will be able to continue (in power politics) if they win from at least one constituency”.

Addressing a large gathering at Santhemarahalli in the border district of Chamarajanagar — the first stop in his 15-venue election tour across the State — Mr. Modi said Mr. Siddaramaiah hunted for safe seats as he was afraid of losing. Mr. Siddaramaiah fielded his son Yathindra from his old constituency of Varuna and shifted to Chamundeshwari, besides entering the fray from Badami in north Karnataka also, he said.

Mr. Modi said the kith and kin of some Ministers have also been fielded in the elections. “If it is a 2+1 formula for the Chief Minister, it is a 1+1 formula for the Ministers,” Mr. Modi said, and added that Congress workers were angry with the “family politics” of their party.

He said the culture of “family politics” of the Congress had ruined not only society and democratic traditions, but also the country. In contrast, the BJP pursued “people’s politics”, he said. He accused the “corrupt” Siddaramaiah government of posing roadblocks to implementation of Central government projects in Karnataka.

On murders

Later, in Udupi, Mr. Modi said the Congress government had promoted the culture of “ease of doing murder” in the State in the last five years. Mr. Modi said in the last five years, 24 BJP workers had been killed in the State. They had been killed for raising their voice against the State government. But the State government had remained passive about it. “Is it wrong to hold differing opinions in a democracy? There is no place for violence in a democracy,” he said.

A smattering of Marathi

Mr. Modi ended his speech at Chikkodi in Belagavi district, a bilingual region, by greeting the crowd in Marathi. A few days ago, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had apologised to the crowd for not being able to speak in Marathi at Bedakihal village in Belagavi district, which had drawn criticism from many, including the BJP.

In Udupi, Mr. Modi began his speech in Tulu and followed this up with a few sentences in Kannada, before switching to Hindi. Interestingly, though there was a Hindi-to-Kannada translator initially, the audience said they did not want a translation.

No visit to Udupi Krishna temple

Vidyadheesha Tirtha Swami of Paryaya Palimar Mutt on Tuesday expressed his disappointment over Mr. Modi not visiting the Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple during his trip to Udupi.

It may be recalled that the BJP had made a big issue of Mr. Siddaramaiah not visiting the Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple. The Palimar seer told reporters, “I had expectations that he might come. I had invited both Mr. Modi and Mr. Siddaramaiah to visit the Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple.”

Vishwesha Tirtha Swami of Pejawar Mutt said he too had written to Mr. Modi, inviting him to the temple.

In a press release issued here, the district unit of the Congress questioned why Mr. Modi did not visit the temple, especially when the BJP had made a big issue of Mr. Siddaramaiah not visiting it.