Modi addresses karyakartas from K'taka, takes swipe at Cong over 'revadi' culture

In a virtual address with the party’s karyakartas from Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the party is committed to building a future crop of leaders in the state, and that the BJP thinks of the next 25 years when planning its strategies. Modi’s exhortation comes as the infighting in the Karnataka unit of the BJP has had its effect on the ticket distribution.

The PM also took a potshot at the Congress and said “revdi” culture will harm us in the long run, and asked the 50 lakh booth workers he addressed to strengthen the booth committee structure in the state.

“BJP doesn’t think about five years of its own rule, but thinks about the country. We don’t think about the party but think about the country. We don’t think just about present electoral politics but about taking India ahead in the next 25 years,” Modi said while speaking to a worker.

“BJP is building a young team to lead Karnataka’s development journey in the coming 25 years.”

Also Read | Congress's warranty expired, its guarantees have no meaning: PM Modi to Karnataka BJP workers

The statement comes as a crop of senior leaders from the party have left ahead of the elections. Former CM Jagadish Shettar and deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi are among the prominent exits joining the Congress, while 18 sitting legislators including former deputy CM Eashwarappa did not manage to win tickets.

During his speech, BJP said, Modi spoke to 50 lakh booth workers across 58,112 booths. He called Karnataka the land of Basaveshwar and asked party workers to strengthen the booth. “When the booth wins, the win in the assembly is assured,” Modi said.

Modi said that he will tour the state from April 29 onwards, and took questions from party workers. Answering a question from Virukshappa from Shimoga, who asked him what should be done in the next 10 days to ensure his booth’s victory, Modi asked him to pick 10 male party workers and 10 women workers and make 10 teams. He asked the worker to have details of schemes and achievements of the party, and meet various sets of people.

“Meet senior citizens, meet women and meet the youth. Most importantly, meet first time voters and hold 'sammelans' with them,” Modi said.

Responding to another question, from Arun Shettiar from Dakshina Kannada about the four guarantees of the Congress, PM Modi said that for some parties the definition of democracy is to win elections.

“In our country, some political parties have made politics the means of power and corruption. To achieve this, they are using all means like ‘saam, dham, dhand, bedh’ (persuade, purchase, punish, and exploit). These political parties don’t think about the future of the country, future generation of Karnataka, its youth, women,” Modi said. “We have to destroy the politics of bribery and appeasement to witness true development in the state and nation.”

Modi said that sometimes, due to temporary challenges, people need to be given freebies, but the ‘revdi’ culture should be done away with.

Several senior BJP leaders including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, former chief minister B S Yediyirappa (from Hubballi), state president Nalin Kumar Kateel (from Mangaluru), national general secretary BL Santosh, poll in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan and union minister Shobha Karndlaje (from Bengaluru), took part in the interaction.