Cong to scrap electoral bonds if given power

The Congress will scrap electoral bonds if voted to power, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Tuesday.

Gundu Rao told reporters at a press conference at the Congress Bhavan in Mallikatte that the move by the Centre to raise party funds through electoral bonds lacks transparency.

“The names of those who contribute more than Rs 2,000 need not be disclosed under the new scheme. In the previous scheme, disclosure of names who contributed more than Rs 2,000 was mandatory. Under the new system, even Dawood Ibrahim can contribute anonymously to the BJP funds and nobody would know,” he criticised.

He also told reporters that the Central government had failed to implement the development programmes including ‘Jan Dhan’ and ‘PM Ujjwala Yojana’. “The farmers’ income has not increased nor has black money come back to India,” he said.

Reservation bill

He asked why the Centre had not passed the 33% women reservation bill even after the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha had given its in-principal approval.

Gundu Rao also dared the BJP leaders to take part in a public debate on the achievements of the Modi government.

“The prime minister has been escaping from the questions of journalists. Modi is the first time prime minister of India who has not held a single press conference after he took over as the PM. Modi is a marketing genius who plays with the emotions of the people, for his own profit. The Rafale deal is the biggest scam of the centre, where the PM himself is the middleman. In a way, he is the ‘chowkidar’ of the corporate. Modi Raj is the Mafia Raj,” Gundu Rao declared.

He felt that the Centre should not have gone public with the appointment of Lokpal after the announcement of the election schedule.

Vijaya Bank

Gundu Rao stressed that KPCC president had opposed the merger of Vijaya Bank with the Bank of Baroda and the Dena Bank.

He said the BJP is not seeking votes on development agenda.

“The BJP, as always, is sticking to its single point agenda of Hindutva, which is like an opium. The BJP is also using this trump card to divert people’s attention from the ground realities,” he added.

“The MP of Dakshina Kannada, has failed totally. He is only good at making provocative speeches,” he said and added, “Lok Sabha election candidate from Dakshina Kannada, Mithun Rai, is the youth
icon and the youth is shifting base from the BJP to the Congress.”

Wayanad contest

The KPCC president, responding to a query, said that the party cadres in Karnataka were happy that AICC chief Rahul Gandhi chose to contest from Wayanad.

There was a request also from the Karnataka Congress for him to contest from Karnataka. However, he is contesting from the southern region, Gundu Rao explained.

He, meanwhile, predicted that the Congress party will emerge as the single largest party.

District In-charge Minister U T Khader, MLC and District Congress Committee president Harish Kumar, District Congress spokesperson A C Vinayraj, general secretary Santosh Shetty, candidate Mithun Rai, leaders Kallige Taranath Shetty and KPCC secretary U K Monu were present at the press meet.