Exuding confidence that the Congress and its allies would emerge victorious in the Lok Sabha elections, former Chief Minister and coalition coordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah said on Monday that the BJP would fail to repeat its stellar performance of 2014 in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Speaking at an interaction programme jointly organised by Press Club of Bangalore and Bangalore Reporters’ Guild here on Monday, the former Chief Minister said the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in UP and the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress tie-up in Bihar would trounce the saffron party.
Referring to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government’s slogan of ‘India Shining’ in 2004, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “History tells us what happened to ‘India Shining’. Mr. Modi will also meet the same fate,” he said.
Saying that the Lok Sabha polls this time were not a battle between Mr. Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, he said, “It is democracy versus dictatorship this time. The Centre wants to demolish democracy in the country and has been misusing constitutional bodies such as the Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, Central Vigilance Commission and even the judiciary. This election is a struggle to protect the Constitution and constitutional bodies.”
The former Chief Minister further said the situation had “changed drastically” since 2014. “In 2014, Modi weaved a beautiful dream for India and people believed him. They have realised their mistake now,” he said.
Slamming the Prime Minister for “politicising surgical strikes”, Mr. Siddaramaiah said it was not the first time India had conducted surgical strikes. “In the past, there have been 10 or 12 surgical strikes, and then neither Mr. Modi nor the BJP was ruling the country. Where was he when Bangladesh was liberated? It is the responsibility of the elected government and Prime Minister to protect the country and its people,” he said.
On coalition
The Congress leader also dismissed doubts about the longevity of the coalition government in the State after the polls. “This government will continue even after the Lok Sabha polls. There is no doubt about it.”
On the perception about continued differences between the Congress and the JD(S) in Old Mysore region, he said, “It is now proved beyond all reasonable doubt that Congress and JD(S) workers will work unitedly for transfer of votes. We will start joint campaign now andgradually all differences will be sorted out.”
