After several days of political slugfest over alleged sexual abuse by JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, the State Congress on Friday changed the campaign track and blasted the BJP for its lack of concern for the poor and downtrodden.
The issues of poverty, unemployment, and inflation had taken a backseat during the campaign for the last few days and the alleged sexual abuse by Mr. Prajwal Revanna and the murder of student Neha Hiremath dominated the electoral theme of both the Congress and the BJP.
At an election rally at Mundagod in Uttara Kannada, KPCC president and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar alleged that the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had neglected the poor and many people had lost their lives owing to poor management of COVID-19 pandemic. He also alleged rampant corruption in the management of COVID-19 vaccination drives.
“The only achievement of the BJP was to kill Karnataka-origin banks such as Corporation Bank, Vijaya Bank, and SyndicateBank by merging them with other nationalised banks. Mr. Modi said that farmers’ income would be doubled but nothing has happened,” Mr. Shivakumar alleged.
“The BJP government contributed to the high prices of essential commodities but we tried to alleviate people’s pain with five guarantee schemes,” Mr. Shivakumar claimed.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, at the same programme, said that while the Narendra Modi-led government did not agree to provide rice to the people of Karnataka, it was now asking for votes. “We have formulated programmes and guarantees for the lives of the poor, labourers, women, and farmers of all castes and religions,” the Chief Minister said, and added that the Congress “will not deceive people like the BJP by waiving off loans of only the rich”.
