Pointing to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders’ “all-out efforts from Delhi to galli [local street]” to defeat him, Congress leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday asserted that he could never be defeated.
He was speaking at an election rally, which was later addressed by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, at Nutan Vidyalaya Grounds here on Monday.
“There are all-out efforts to defeat me. But, I tell you [Prime Minister Narendra Modi] that you cannot defeat me. As long as people continue to support and bless me, I remain invincible no matter how many Modis come here and deliver speeches,” he said.
Alleging that BJP leaders and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were trying hard to change the Constitution, the Congress veteran appealed to the people to vote for the Congress to save the Constitution and democracy. “I appeal to you to vote for the Congress to save the Constitution and democracy, and teach a lesson to those who want to destroy the Constitution,” he said.
Credit for projects
Mr. Kharge also claimed that ESIC Medical College in Bengaluru and a stretch of Solapur–Bengaluru National Highway in Karnataka–Maharashtra border, which were dedicated to the nation by Mr. Modi from Kalaburagi a fortnight ago, were originally taken up by the erstwhile UPA government.
“In his nearly 40-minute speech at this same ground in Kalaburagi a fortnight ago, Mr. Modi did not say what he had done and what he would do for the region. Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had promised a special status under Article 371(J) of the Constitution and they have fulfilled it. The same demand was rejected by the BJP government when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister and L.K. Advani was Home Minister. They had thrown the demand sent by the then Karnataka government to a dustbin and we took it up and fulfilled when we came to power. BJP leaders don’t have any moral right to ask votes in Hyderabad Karnataka region. We have worked and we are asking remuneration [votes] for it,” he said.
Terming Mr. Modi as only a speaker, Mr. Kharge ridiculed that speeches would not fill the bellies. “We have been asking Mr. Modi as to what he had done for the country for the last five years and how many of his pre-poll promises he had fulfilled. He never answered, either in Parliament or outside it,” he said.
Congress Legislature Party leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao, KPCC Working President Eshwar Khandre, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwar, and Home Minister M.B. Patil were present.
