“The Congress is breaking up in every State. There is infighting and dissidence everywhere. However, its leaders are blind to those developments. They are focused on blaming the BJP for everything, rather than setting their own party in order,” BJP State president Nalin Kumar Kateel said in Gokak on Wednesday.
“The Congress should save itself. Therefore, I have a piece of advice for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. He should drop the Bharat Jodo rally and start a Congress Jodo rally, instead,’’ he said.
“We are interested in the Congress remaining united and strong because we need a strong opposition for democracy to function,’’ he said.
He was speaking after inaugurating the Sankalpa Yatre organised by the party as a pre-cursor to the Assembly polls.
He said that the Congress is not capable of electing its national president easily. It has no incumbent president and vice-president. In the State, when Dinesh Gundu Rao resigned after defeat in the Assembly polls, there was no candidate for the KPCC president post. With great effort, D.K. Shivakumar was appointed KPCC president. But he could not appoint his own executive committee for two years.
Now that the committee has been appointed, it has more people than the fast express train from Belagavi to Bengaluru. There are more than 200 vice-presidents and 250 general secretaries. “I would like to ask Congress leaders, if you cannot run your own party properly, how can you run a government?’’ he said.
He said that the contribution of Ramesh Jarkiholi to the formation of the BJP government has been great. He and 17 others joined the BJP to ensure the welfare and development of the State and not for personal benefit. Mr. Ramesh Jarkiholi will also ensure the victory of the BJP candidates from all 18 seats in Belagavi, he said.