Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaking at the golden jubilee celebration function of CAMPCO at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district on Saturday. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH
Taking on the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) ahead of the Assembly elections in Karnataka, Union Minister for Home and Cooperation Amit Shah said on Saturday that both were “two faces of the same coin”, and choosing Janata Dal (S) meant voting for the Congress.
He asked the people in Puttur: “Do you want the Congress and the Janata Dal (Sr) who valorise Tipu Sultan or the BJP which valorises Rani Abbakka?”
Rani Abbakka was the queen of the then Ullal region, near Mangaluru, and fought against foreign invaders, including the Portugese in the 16th century. The 18th century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, who fought the British, has been the target of BJP’s consistent attack. The ruler’s birth anniversary was officially celebrated during the Congress regime, which was reversed by the BJP when it came to power.
Voting for ‘Nav Karnataka’
Addressing a gathering at Puttur at the golden jubilee celebrations of the Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd. (CAMPCO), a multi-State cooperative society of Karnataka and Kerala, Mr. Shah said that voting the BJP meant “voting for Nav Karnataka.”
He claimed that only the BJP could give a secure and stable government in Karnataka.
“Will you strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai by electing the BJP with full majority?” he asked the crowd. Continuing with rhetorical questions, Mr. Shah further asked: “Do you need a party of nationalists, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, or the corrupt Congress which wants to use Karnataka as the ATM for Gandhi parivar? Whose government do you want?”
Mr. Shah said that when the Congress was in power in Karnataka it had released many activists of the then Popular Front of India (PFI). But the Narendra Modi-led government banned the PFI. The Congress, which was into appeasement and strengthened an anti-national organisation (referring to the PFI), would never do good for Karnataka, he said.
Areca bonding
Lauding CAMPCO for its achievements, he said that the cooperative celebrating the golden jubilee indicated that it had grown on the right path. He said that arecanut trade bridged the people of Gujarat with the people of Dakshina Kannada who cultivated it and the Gujarat people who consumed it.
Earlier, he digitally laid the foundation stone for building an agriculture mall of the CAMPCO in Puttur. He released the coconut oil product named ‘Calpa’ of the CAMPCO and inaugurated the new warehouse of the cooperative constructed at Bhadravat,i near Shivamogga, on the occasion.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa spoke. Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP for Dakshina Kannada and State BJP president, was present.
