Congress will be completely crushed in Karnataka, says CM Bommai

The Chief Minister said even though Congress was in power in Karnataka for the longest time, it did nothing other than fooling people

Bengaluru, Dec 08: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday, while addressing the Jan Sankalp Yatra in Kunigal, said the Congress party will be completely obliterated in the state. Hitting out at the grand old party, the Chief Minister said that the party had ruled Karnataka for the maximum period and yet their governments did nothing other than fool the people of the state.

Bommai said, "To attain power, the Congress leaders misled the people continuously. However, after BJP emerged as an alternative force, Congress lost its place and position all over the country," ANI quoted him as saying.

'Votes on caste...'

The CM further said, "Their game of seeking votes on the basis of caste, dividing people on religious lines, creating sub-castes and making tall claims as champions of Dalits, Backward classes and Minorities, have been exposed."

The Karnataka CM also said that the Congress leaders talk of the upliftment of the poor and downtrodden only in their speeches and create an impression as if they are their only protector.

"And yet, the people from the Backward classes have remained backward. Now, all those communities have been awakened. They now question what has been done for them by the Congress governments over the years," he said.

Bommai added, "Seeing the amount spent on their upliftment, the life of those communities should have been vastly improved. But in fact, they have not been able to progress either financially, socially, or academically."

'Cong is Gangotri of corruption'

While talking about the borrowing of Rs 2 lakh crore by Karnataka, the Chief Minister said, "The state was limping under Siddaramaiah in spite of the fact that there was no COVID-19 pandemic when the Congress leader was the Chief Minister.

"The financial position was in a terrible state. And yet, the Siddaramaiah Government imposed a loan of Rs 2 lakh crore on the people of Karnataka. With so much borrowing, the state should have been developed."

"The BJP in its five-year rule has spent Rs 32,000 crore to irrigate 7 lakh hectares of land. In contrast, the Congress government had irrigated just 2 lakh acres by spending Rs 54,000 crore during its five-year term," Bommai said, questioning, "Where did that money go...to whose coffers...?"

The CM also termed the Congress as the "Gangotri of Corruption" (gangotri here meaning source) and said that the Lokayukta institution was shut down to start the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) as over 50 cases were pending against the then Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues.

The ACB filed a 'B' report on all the cases despite having evidence in many cases, Bommai said.

The closure of Lokayukta is the best example of corruption in Congress. The party's ministers looted many government departments for five years and they did not spare even the rice distributed to the poor under the Anna Bhagya Scheme, he added.

'There's a pro-BJP wave':

About the pro-BJP wave, Bommai said, "All over the Tumkur district there is a pro-BJP wave, also the response of people has been tremendous in Hyderabad-Karnataka, Central Karnataka and Mumbai-Karnataka region. The welfare programs of the state and the Union governments are making the people support BJP."

In the 2018 Assembly polls, BJP had lost in Kunigal, Tumkur Rural, Koratagere, and Madhugiri by a small margin and in the next election the saffron party will sweep all the seats, Bommai said.

Ministers, Govind Karjol, Araga Jnanendra, J.C.Madhuswamy, K.Gopalaiah, B.C.Nagesh, MLAs, Jyothi Ganesh, Rajesh Gowda, Masale Jairam, MLCs C.P.Yogeshwar, N.Ravikumar, Y.A.Narayanaswamy, K.S.Naveen, former MP Mudda Hanumegowda, former MLC Ashwath Narayana were also present in the Jan Sankalp Yatra.

(With inputs from ANI)