“Congress educated everyone, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” party president Mallikarjun Kharge said in Chikkodi on April 26.
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Addressing a rally for the party candidate, Mr Kharge said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeps asking what has the Congress done in 70 years. If he looks around, he will see what our party has done. We have built dams, public sector undertakings. We have provided education, healthcare and employment opportunities for all. When the country got independence, literacy level was around 16%. Now, it is around 70%. Who made people literate? Who educated all the doctors, engineers, scientists, teachers and lawyers all these years? Congress educated everyone, including Mr Modi.
“Mr Modi speaks like this because he is vengeful. He has great hatred for the Congress. He targets his opponents mercilessly. He has been creating trouble for (Congress MP) Rahul Gandhi and his family endlessly. The BJP disqualified Rahul Gandhi within 24 hours of a court judgment against him. But the same BJP has not disqualified Narayan Bhai Kachadia, a BJP MP from Gujarat who has been convicted for 3-1/2 years for atrocities on a Dalit doctor.”
He appealed to people to vote in large numbers and ensure that the Congress gets at least 150 seats. “If we get any less, the BJP will steal our MLAs. Just as you lock your houses when going out, you should lock us in the Vidhana Soudha by giving us 150 seats,” he said.