Karnataka Cong to hit the road with Praja Dhwani poll tour

The Karnataka Congress will start its flagship election tour Praja Dhwani from Wednesday covering 21 districts during which the party will market its promises to citizens while attacking the BJP government with a charge sheet it has prepared.

Praja Dhwani will see Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar travel in the same bus until January 29.

After that, in the second week of February, a team headed by Siddaramaiah will visit every Assembly constituency in north Karnataka whereas Shivakumar will lead his own pack in south Karnataka.

“For the last 2-3 years, Congress has been trying to reflect the sentiments of citizens. The Praja Dhwani tour will be the voice of people. We’re starting this tour to tell people about the failures of the BJP government and what we’re ready to do,” Shivakumar told a news conference.

Shivakumar said the party chose Belagavi as the starting point for the Praja Dhwani tour as this was where Mahatma Gandhi chaired the historic 1924 session of Congress.

“Karnataka is a progressive state and it was a model for the entire country. Investors were enthused to come to Karnataka and Bengaluru. But now, the state has been tainted by corruption. Nobody’s life is good. BJP had promised to double the income of farmers and give jobs to youth. Instead, they’re looting. There’s corruption in all departments,” Shivakumar charged.

Siddaramaiah targeted Basavaraj Bommai, describing him “the most weakest” chief minister Karnataka has seen. “Not only is he corrupt, but he’s also a coward before the union government,” he said.

Slamming the government over the state’s finances, Siddaramaiah said no BJP MP had mounted pressure on the union government to give Karnataka Rs 5,495 crore special grant recommended by the 15th Finance Commission, but “rejected by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman”.

According to Siddaramaiah, the BJP government has borrowed Rs 3 lakh crore loans in just four years. “They’ve borrowed loans so much that even interest payments are tough. The loan burden works out of Rs 83,000 per person. Can the state survive?” he said, adding that Congress should come to power in the state’s interest. “This is a 40 per cent commission government in which there’s bribery in everything. This is the government of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves,” he said.

On the occasion, Congress released a charge sheet called “BJP Paapada Purana” listing out price rises and various corruption allegations.