Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being a liar, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday asked about the good days that he had promised before the BJP-led NDA government came to power at the Centre.
In a no-holds-barred attack on the BJP and Sangh-Parivar, Siddaramaiah said that the saffron outfits are trying to create a divide among the people of the country.
According to Siddaramaiah, the Constitution and democracy in India are under threat because of the BJP.
“…In my political career spanning 40 years, I have never seen a Prime minister who lies like Modi,” Siddaramaiah said in the Sangli district of Maharashtra - which was his first political visit outside Karnataka, after coming to power earlier this year. “Modi promised ‘achhe din’…. ‘achhe din ka kya hua,” he asked and pointed out that the prices of petrol, diesel, and cooking gas have increased manifold, among other things.
“Modi’s popularity is waning and this was evident from the results of Karnataka polls,” Siddaramaiah said in his nearly 45-minute address, which was translated in Marathi.
The Maharashtra Congress accorded a grand felicitation to Siddaramaiah at a function in which the top leadership including state Congress President Nana Patole, Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan were present, among others.
"BJP means corruption and corruption means BJP,” Siddaramaiah said, adding that in Karnataka the “BJP was running a 40 per cent commission government” and now the saffron party stands exposed after the people’s mandate was out.
He also said that the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra too is corrupt and asserted that it needs to be rooted out of power in the next elections.
He asked the Congress leaders and workers to go to every nook and corner of the country and expose the BJP.
“During the Karnataka polls, I and (Deputy Chief Minister) D K Shivakumar travelled to every nook and corner of the state and explained to people the BJP’s designs and its corruption…this has to be repeated (during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and Assembly elections ahead),” Siddaramaiah said.
“The BJP and Sangh-Parivar are trying to divide people on the basis of religion, region, caste and language,” he said in his address in Kannada, which was translated into Marathi. “The politics of hate and commission do not work,” he said.
He also slammed the Centre for intentionally depriving Karnataka of access to low-cost rice supplies through the Food Corporation of India, which affected the state’s plans for the Anna Bhagya scheme, which would provide an additional 5 kg of rice for BPL families.
“RSS leader M S Golvalkar and Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar opposed the Constitution. Congress will never allow the Constitution to change and all workers should be prepared for any sacrifice to protect it,” he said and invoked Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution. "We have stood by the ideals of Mahatma Phule and Savatribai Phule, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar," Siddaramaiah added.
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