Playing up the apparent trust issues between coalition partners Congress and JD(S), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said Congress president Rahul Gandhi was not contesting from Karnataka as he feared the JD(S) would “exact revenge” on him over the Congress withdrawing support to the Deve Gowda government at the Centre in the past.
Addressing an election rally in the city on Tuesday, Mr. Modi alluded to the JD(S) supremo’s stint as Prime Minister and said he had been forced to resign because the Congress, at the behest of Sonia Gandhi, withdrew support for his regime. “There was fear that Deve Gowda would exact revenge against Sonia Gandhi by not supporting Rahul Gandhi, so he did not contest from Karnataka,” Mr. Modi said.
He said the Congress has justified Mr. Gandhi’s decision to contest from Kerala as the result of his desire to do so from south India. “If so, he should have contested from Karnataka, where his own party is in power. The Congress even made efforts to scout for a safe seat [for him] in the State. But they had suspicions that Deve Gowda would take revenge and did not trust the JD(S),” the Prime Minister said.
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He alleged that the Congress had sensed growing public anger against it and thus, the party president was forced to scout for a safe seat. Mr. Modi said that Mr. Gandhi was at risk of losing from his current Lok Sabha seat (Amethi).
‘CM is a punching bag’
Continuing his attack on the grand old party, he said, “The Congress gave the slogan of
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He lashed out at the Mahagatbandhan for “lacking a vision” for the country and said those parties cannot go beyond “Modi hatao ” (remove Modi) in their speeches. The functioning of the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka betrays this lack of vision, he said, alleging that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had become a “punching bag” for the Congress.
Batting for Sumalatha
Mr. Modi also mentioned the late actor-turned-politician M.H. Ambareesh in his speech at the Mysuru rally, evoking loud applause from the crowd.
He asked citizens to vote for his wife Sumalatha, who is backed by the BJP and is contesting as an Independent against the JD(S)’s K. Nikhil, son of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, in Mandya constituency. Mr. Modi said the people have kept Ambareesh in their hearts because of his work. Along with Ms. Sumalatha, his contribution to Kannada and the culture of the land is praiseworthy, he said.
Raking up flag issue
The Prime Minister, who had courted criticism for stating that Congress president Rahul Gandhi was contesting from Wayanad in Kerala because Hindus were a minority there, alluded to the subject again at the election rally in Mysuru.
Mr. Modi did not mention Mr. Gandhi by name, but referred to him as the “ naamdar ” who decided to contest from the “safe seat” that was Wayanad. “The country is discussing whose flags were being waved there,” he said.
Social media had gone into overdrive over the “Pakistan flags” being waved in Wayanad in a video clip, but it transpired that the flags were of the Indian Union Muslim League, a political party in Kerala. But this did not prevent the Prime Minister from raking up the issue at the public rally, where he also accused the Congress of pursing “vote bank politics” and coining phrases such as “Hindu terror”.