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Journalism of Courage
IN HER first and only public meeting in the Karnataka election campaign on Tuesday, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a leader “who talks and talks” but is silent on issues that matter.
“Modiji is very proud of the fact that he is a great orator. I completely agree with him. He speaks like an actor. But if his speeches could fill the country’s stomach, then I would like him to give even more speeches,” she said in a short speech at her first campaign meeting in nearly two years. “Unfortunately his speeches won’t give jobs to the youth or relief to farmers.”
A large crowd gathered in Bijapur city to hear Sonia speak, hours after Modi held an impressive rally in the nearby Bableshwar constituency, where state water resources minister and popular Congress leader from Bijapur, M B Patil, is an MLA. Patil, who is also the district in-charge of Bijapur, denied that Sonia was fielded to counter a “Modi wave” in the campaign.
While the Congress maintains that this is an election fought on local issues, on Tuesday senior leaders, including Patil and Mallikarjun Kharge, consistently attacked Modi for his failure to fulfil his promises and his “lies”.
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Sonia alleged that the Prime Minister refused to meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah when he sought a meeting to ask for relief for Karnataka’s farmers, who have been in distress because of four years of drought. “But forget helping you, he even refused to meet your CM. It was not an insult to the CM, but also to Karnataka’s farmers and their families. While the Modi government gave other drought-hit states thousands of crores, he sprinkled salt on the wounds of Karnataka’s farmers by giving them the lowest amount,” the former Congress chief said.
She also took a swipe at BJP president Amit Shah while accusing Modi of double-speak on corruption. “What happened to your favourite promise of eliminating corruption? Why has the Lokpal not been established even after four years? The people who sit with you on the dais in Karnataka have grave allegations against them. Is that the model you will adopt?”
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A few days after Modi had accused the Congress government of insulting General Thimayya, Sonia accused the Prime Minister of distorting history for political ends. She said: “He distorts history and uses our freedom fighters for his political interests…. Does this behove a PM?”
