If the Congress were to come to power, there will be riots, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Terdal of Bagalkot district on Tuesday.
“Voting for the Congress will be useless. It will lead to communal violence and riots across the State. It will lead to large-scale corruption and there will not be any development,” he said.
Mr. Shah said that the BJP’s electoral prospects will not be affected in anyway with Lingayat leaders Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi leaving the party.
“A leader or two leaving will not affect us,” the senior BJP leader said at a rally.
“Some Lingayat leaders have left the BJP and the Congress is hoping to gain from their entry. That will not happen. The Congress is a party that has always insulted Lingayats. All through its reign, only two Lingayats, S. Nijalingappa and Veerendra Patil, were made Chief Ministers. Even they were humiliated and removed later. But the Congress is talking about the BJP not treating Lingayat leaders well,” he said.
He defended the BJP move to scrap quota for Muslims, as reservation based on religion is unconstitutional. “We have increased the quota of Lingayats, Vokkaligas, OBCs and SCs and STs. No one has attempted it earlier,” he said.
“The Congress State president is going around saying they will reinstate Muslim reservation if they came to power. I want to ask him, how will you do it? Will you snatch the quota from the Lingayats, Vokkaligas, OBCs or SCs and STs to do it?,” Mr. Shah said.
Mr. Shah symbolically used a loom that was on stage to express solidarity with the weaving community. He sought votes for party candidates in Bagalkot district.
