Launching an all-out attack against the Congress party, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the BJP was confident of securing a “poorn bahumat” [full majority] in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections. At a public meeting in Farmagudi, Ponda in South Goa, Shah took pot-shots at the Congress for its 'defeat' in recent Assembly elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya, despite a high decibel campaign by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after his Bharat Jodo Yatra. Recently, Rahul baba completed his yatra. All Congress leaders looked very happy that Rahul-ji did the yatra. After that, elections took place in three states in the Northeast… considered a Congress stronghold since there is a sizeable Christian population. Rahul baba went there… campaigned in full swing and Congress was completely wiped out. Under the leadership of PM Modi, in Tripura, we formed a government with full majority; in Nagaland, 13 of our MLAs were elected again and; in Meghalaya, also, the government was formed with our support.” “ Cautioning the Congress leaders against 'insulting' the smaller states, Shah said, “When we won in Goa, Uttarakhand and other states in the Northeast, the reaction of [Mallikarjun] Kharge was that these are very small states. Kharge saheb, these are small states, but they are a very important part of India. Do not forget this. Do not insult these small states.Goa is like a ‘bindiya’ on Bharat Mata's forehead. The smaller the state, the bigger is the responsibility of the Centre to work for their development. That has been the policy of Modi-led government.” Urging the people of Goa to vote for BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, Shah said, “I have come here today specially for the South Goa seat. One year is left for the 2024 election. Lotus will bloom in the entire Goa.I have seen the same mood [in favour of BJP] in Odisha and Telangana, and today from here, I want to tell Kharge-ji and Rahul baba that in Karnataka too, BJP will form the government with a full majority.” Hailing the Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant for forming the government in Goa with a full majority and bringing 'stability', Shah said that the BJP government had resolved the long-pending issue of mining in Goa and in a year, mining shall resume in the state. Stating that Congress only promoted parivar-vad, casteism and corruption, Shah said that only BJP practises the politics of development. “Is Kashmir ours or not? Article 370 should have been removed or not? Congress had kept the matter of Article 370 pending for 70 years.When Congress was in power in Goa, only Rs 432 crore was given to Goa annually, but under Modi Ji, over Rs 3,000 crore is being given to Goa annually,” he added. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that he was confident that BJP would win both the Lok Sabha seats — North Goa and South Goa — in 2024 elections. Meanwhile, Congress leaders in Goa alleged that several of its party's functionaries including Goa Congress president Amit Patkar, who were on their way to protest at the public meeting over Shah's recent remark on the Mhadei issue, were detained by the Goa Police and stopped from going to Ponda.
