No personal attacks, stay clear of religion: Cong mantra for Karnataka

In poll bound Karnataka, the Congress has told its leaders to abstain from personal attacks and focus on issues such as price rise and the failure of the Centre.

During the meeting held last week, the Congress informally advised its leaders to refrain from personal attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as it could be blown out of proportion.

While sending out the message the Congress had taken the example of how the comments made by party chief, Mallikarjua Kharge during the Gujarat elections were allegedly twisted by the BJP.

The message is to focus on the failures of the BJP-led union government, price rise and corruption.

The Congress ahead of the dates being announced said that if voted to power, it would provide 200 units of free electricity, Rs 2,000 a month to women who head the family, Rs 3,000 a month to unemployed graduates and 10kg of rice for each member of the BPL families.

The instruction according to reports was given out after the Congress released its first list of 124 candidates for the Karnataka Assembly elections. Ramalinga Reddy, who is the working president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) said that the party during its campaign would highlight the failures of the Central and state governments.

"We will highlight the 40 per cent commission charge, price rise and unemployment," Reddy said.

He however added that there was no decision on steering clear on attacks on the PM.

The Congress strategy is clear and that is not to let the BJP any leverage to its advantage. The party does not want to indulge in religious issues also during his campaign. It has also stayed clear of the hijab and halal issues, while also not commenting on Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda who are by some believed to have killed Tipu Sultan. The Congress also did not oppose the decision by the Bommai cabinet to scrap the 4 per cent OBC reservation to Muslims.