Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj K.S. Eshwarappa has said that the Congress had used the Backward Classes, Dalits and minorities only as vote-bank and it has done nothing for the development of these communities.
Addressing a gathering at a BJP Other Backward Classes Morcha District-level Working Committee meeting here on Monday, Mr. Eshwarappa accused the Congress of using the communities as vote-bank, while neglecting them after assuming power.
Mr. Eshwarappa said that the Congress has lost its ground in Punjab and that that party is on slippery grounds in Rajasthan. The erosion of support from the Dalit and Backward Classes is the reason for the decline of the Congress and the rise of the BJP. The differences of opinion on issues within the party as expressed by a group of Congress leaders (G23) themselves indicate that the Congress is weakening day-by-day, he reiterated.
Accusing the Congress of neglecting the rural areas, the Minister said that in the last several years of Congress rule, only three crore households in the country have had access to tap water. But the BJP-led government has given 5 crore water connections under Jal Jeevan Mission in the last two years. The government aims to ensure that every household in the country has piped water connections by 2024, Mr. Eshwarappa added.
He said that the “BJP has proved that it is not a Brahmin party as alleged by Opposition parties. Under the BJP government, all sections of people are feeling secure. The party is working for the welfare of every community. In the recent reshuffle of the Union Cabinet, 27 Other Backward Class, 12 Dalit and eight Adivasi members were inducted into the Modi Cabinet for the first time in the history of the country. Today, the Congress is in a declining stage with several Congress leaders leaving the party to join the BJP.”
Members of Legislative Assembly Basavaraj Mattimod, Avinash Jadhav, Subhash Guttedar, Member of Legislative Council Sunil Vallyapure, BJP State vice-president Malikayya Guttedar and others were present.
