Undercurrent in INDIA bloc’s favour, BJP copying Congress guarantees: Mallikarjun Kharge

Alleging that the central government has failed to make any contribution to Karnataka, he said, “What is your (BJP’s) guarantee? Now, he (Modi) is going around saying ‘Modi ki guarantee’. He is copying us.” He pointed out the guarantee schemes implemented by the Congress governments in Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh and said, “Where is your (BJP’s) guarantee? Tell us.”

He demanded that Modi swear in the name of the Ram Lalla idol at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and tell people whether his party has fulfilled its manifesto promises of providing two crore jobs annually, doubling farmers income, depositing Rs 15 lakh in the bank account of every citizen, and ensuring MSP for farmers.

“What did you do then? On one hand he is invoking the name of God and on the other he is oppressing the poor,” he alleged and said people are struggling due to high inflation in the country. “If poor people are surviving, it’s because of MGNREGS and the five guarantees of the Congress government in Karnataka,” he said.

“There is an undercurrent. It’s not visible. Why is Modi touring so extensively these days? Because there is an undercurrent in favour of the INDIA bloc. That’s the reason he is going to narrow lanes and holding road shows,” Kharge said.

Central investigating agencies such as the ED and the Income Tax Department are being “misused to force the corrupt to join the BJP”, he alleged. “When these leaders were in our party, they were corrupt. Did they get cleansed as soon as they joined your party (BJP)?” Kharge said, adding though Modi had said he would not spare the corrupt, now the corrupt leaders were sitting next to him.

“That’s why I often say Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have a massive washing machine in which not only clothes are put but also human beings. Once you put them there, they come out clean,” Kharge said.

Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, has decided not to contest polls from Kalaburagi Lok Sabha segment. Having won Assembly elections nine times in a row since 1972 and Lok Sabha polls twice from Kalaburagi in 2009 and 2014, he tasted his first defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections against BJP’s Umesh Jadhav.