Kolar/Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday wound up his election campaign in Karnataka with a blistering attack on Rahul Gandhi, a day after the Congress president signalled his willingness to contest for prime ministerial responsibilities.
Describing him as “arrogant” and “immature”, Modi said that Gandhi is not bothered about his party or its legacy and is only worried about the job of the prime minister. He was addressing an enthusiastic crowd in the morning, his first for the day, in Karnataka’s Bangarapet constituency in Kolar.
Later in the day he addressed public meetings in Chikmagalur, Belgavi and Bidar. Since 1 May, Modi has addressed 17 rallies across the state. Campaigning in the poll-bound state ends on Thursday.
“Yesterday, someone made an important declaration. He said, ‘I am going to be PM!’ He came like those bullies, barging his way ahead when there are others who have many years of experience. How can someone just declare himself as the PM? This is nothing but arrogance,” Modi said at a public meeting in Kolar.
Speaking in Chikmagalur, Modi said the Congress thinks that the chair of the PM is reserved for one family and that nobody else can sit on it. Gandhi said on Tuesday he is ready to be the Prime Minister in 2019 if his party bags the highest number of seats among the fast growing alliance of opposition parties in next year’s Lok Sabha polls.
“Congress got only 44 seats in Lok Sabha, lost all assembly elections in the last 4 years but the naamdaar (dynast) wants to become Prime Minister,” Modi said.
During his day-long campaign in Karnataka, Modi blamed the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government for corruption, adding that, nationally, the party was responsible for spreading caste politics and communalism.
“In five years, this Congress government has ruined the image of the state. Wherever the Congress goes, it spreads the viral of six diseases. They are destroying the principles of democracy. Congress culture, communalism, casteism, crime, corruption, contract system — they are ruining the future of Karnataka,” Modi said in Bangarapet.
The choice of Kolar for the first of four public meetings by Modi in Karnataka on Wednesday is significant as Dalits account for 30% of the population of the district, the highest in the state. Similarly, the other three public meetings were spread across north and coastal Karnataka regions, which are considered to be strongholds of the BJP.
Blaming the Congress leadership of not respecting the mandate of the people in election defeats, Modi said the party was trying to malign the Election Commission (EC) by blaming electronic voting machines (EVMs) for its defeats.
“Congress believes EVM wrong, Congress right, EC wrong, Congress is right. Congress is trying to discredit army, after surgical strikes they raised doubts on the army. We have been listening to this since Bofors. Congress is playing a dangerous game, I want to warn the people of Karnataka about this dangerous game,” he said.
He also came down heavily upon Siddaramaiah, after income tax raids on Tuesday night unearthed allegedly unaccounted cash and gold in a resort in Badami, where Siddaramaiah had stayed previously. He said such “acts of Congress” defame not only Badami but all of Karnataka.
Gyan Varma from New Delhi contributed to this story.