Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah on Saturday announced a door-to-door campaign covering about 25 lakh houses to raise a voice against the policies of the Congress-led State government. On his first visit to the city after being chosen as national president, Mr. Shah accused the Congress of indulging in "sectarian populism" and "misrule" that has “crippled” the State’s economy.
Addressing presspersons after holding a meeting with the State BJP core-committee, Mr. Shah termed the Congress government as a "non-performing, corrupt and defunct" entity that has failed in law and order as well as governance.
He cited the introduction of the Bill to take over mismanaged mutts and the withdrawal of the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Protection Bill as recent examples of sectarian populism.
He alleged that Karnataka’s growth rate had crashed from a robust level of 10 per cent to about 5 per cent under the present government.
Mr. Shah, who had called for ensuring a "Congress-free Karnataka" during his recent visit to Bidar, said the ongoing drive to enrol one crore members for the party State unit was an important step towards achieving this.
He claimed that the ongoing membership drive had received overwhelming response, with an average of 20,000 people enrolling as party members every day. He expressed confidence that the target of reaching one crore membership would be achieved by March by the State unit, while the national target of enrolling 10 crore members too would be achieved around this deadline.
Interestingly, Mr. Shah did not elaborate on the party’s campaign against denotification of a large extent of land, allegedly involving Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He only said that measures would be taken as per the law.
He declined to comment when asked about a ruling Congress leader alleging that he was in Karnataka to destabilise the government.
Meanwhile, BJP State president Pralhad Joshi said the door-to-door campaign would be launched against the Congress government from January 7 to 20. The campaign would cover the demand for decreasing fares of government-run buses, protesting the tabling of the Bill to take over mismanaged Mutts and withdrawal of anti-cow slaughter bills.
He said Mr. Shah had asked the party to launch two mass enrolment campaigns as part of the ongoing drive. While the first one to be taken up from January 10 to 11 would aim at enrolling 10 lakh members, the other to be carried out from January 24 to 25 would have a target of enrolling 25 lakh members, he said.
