Congress starts bus tour ahead of Karnataka assembly elections

Belagavi: Jan 11: Hitting the road in poll-bound Karnataka, the Congress on Wednesday began its statewide bus tour called 'Praja Dhwani Yatre', jointly led by party state unit President D K Shivakumar and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah.

The tour kickstarted at 'Veer Soudha', a memorial where Mahatma Gandhi had presided over the Congress session in 1924, after paying tributes to the father of the nation. AICC General Secretary In-charge of State Randeep Surjewala, and senior leaders including campaign committee chief M B Patil, were among others present. The tour covering 21 districts will see the party sharing its ideas with the people and assuring all-round development of the state, while attacking the BJP government with a "charge sheet" it has prepared, Congress leaders said.

As part of the bus yatra, both Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, who are nursing chief ministerial ambitions in the event of the Congress coming to power, will travel in the same vehicle until January 29. Thereafter, in the second week of February, two separate teams would be formed, with one headed by Siddaramaiah set to tour Assembly constituencies in north Karnataka region, while Shivakumar will be leading the way in southern districts.

Congress leaders symbolically swept the street with a broom and said they will "wipe out the corrupt" BJP government from the state, where elections are due by May. Siddaramaiah said, the Congress is beginning the Yatre from Belagavi to "wipe out the BJP government's corruption and its misrule" from the state. "Our intention is to place before the people a charge sheet against the BJP government in the state, because the entire government is submerged in corruption, there is growing misrule, and they are indulging in a politics of hate. If anyone questions, they are being intimidated with false cases and arrests," he said, adding that "corruption is rampant and people are fed up".

Shivakumar said the BJP government has been a "curse" for this state as "scandals are coming out every day", and to wipe it out, the Congress is taking up this yatre. "The BJP has made Karnataka the capital of corruption, this has to be ended and people need to be given a good administration, they should have confidence towards the government, so we are taking up this yatre with a promise of good governance," he said. Listing out "various corruption and scandals" in the state and accusing the government of giving a clean chit to those involved by filing a b-report in such cases, he alleged, "estimates have been doubled in PWD and irrigation contracts, everything will be looked into, all scandals and B report will be inquired into on Congress coming to power."