Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dig at the infighting in the Congress today during the election campaign in Karnataka, where the party is the main opposition.
At a poll rally in Karnataka’s Belur, PM Modi also targetted HD Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal Secular, which is a prominent player in the state.
The Congress and the JDS, he said, are both “symbols of instability”. “Wherever there are Congress governments in the country, their signature is infighting between the leaders. You know what’s happening in Rajasthan or Chhattisgarh. The people there now know all the promises made by the Congress ahead of the election are a bundle of lies,” he added..
Then, targetting the JDS, he said, “The Congress leaders fight among themselves. The Congress’s B Team JDS is also dreaming. They want to participate in the loot by somehow securing 15 or 20 seats”.
There is speculation that in case of a hung assembly, the Congress and Mr Kumaraswamy will opt to tie up to push the BJP out of power in the state, as they did in 2018. Senior Congress leaders including state party chief DK Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, have denied any such possibility.
“Here in Karnataka, the Congress and the JDS are making a show of opposing each other. But you pull out the videos of the Congress and JDS leaders ahead of the elections. They were going against each other, but no sooner the election was over, they tied up,” PM Modi said.
The BJP has been focussing exclusively on Karnataka — the only state where it holds power in the south — hoping to gain a second consecutive term in power. A number of union ministers and the party’s top leaders have been campaigning in the state. PM Modi is also scheduled to address a string of ralies in the state ahead of the May 10 election.
The campaign, though, is seen as an an uphill task for the BJP. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s government has been riddled with allegations of corruption and bribery. Last year, the Congress had launched a mock campaign — PayCM — to highlight allegations that the state’s ruling BJP was extracting 40 per cent commission from builders, contractors and others.