Coming out of his shell senior Congress leader and former Foreign Minister SM Krishna on Wednesday, in his first election campaign, sprang a surprise by praising the RSS and its style of campaigning.
Krishna, who was keeping a low profile since he demitted office, came out to campaign for Rizwan Arshad — a Congress candidate from Bangalore Central — has asked the party workers to work like RSS and bring people to the polling booths. He said, “The Congress should work towards motivate people like RSS.” Krishna (82) is still single and agile and was sulking at the Congress for his unscrupulous exit from the Ministry. But after persuasion by the party he is back in the election trail and has started campaigning for the party.
Krishna dismissed Modi wave and said it was propaganda by the vested interests. He also took a jibe at the BJP for sidelining senior leaders in the party. He said, “We have seen those (Indira and Rajiv Gandhi) waves. They were natural waves which emanated from the hearts of people ... but here the wave is created by vested interests which is only talked and written about, but we can’t see any such wave (of Modi) on ground levels.”
When asked why the Congress was delaying announcing its candidate against Modi from Varanasi if there was no “Modi wave,” he said that the party would decide it when time come.
“Congress will announce the candidate. According to the calendar of events, Karnataka elections are going to be held in the earlier phase and elections in Uttar Pradesh are going to be held at a later phase, so there is plenty of time,” the former Minister for External Affairs said before his roadshow in support of his party candidates in Bangalore. He also alleged that lands of farmers had been given to companies like Adani at “questionable price”.
“The land dealings in Gujarat are just mindboggling. Thousands of acres of land has been given away to Adani and others to industrial hubs ... It was sold at a price that you just feel sorry for the farmers of Gujarat,” he charged.
Krishna directly attacked the BJP for sidelining senior leaders like lK Advani and Jaswanth Singh. He said “there is a veneer of dictatorship. God forbid if something happens where would that leave our democracy or will it just wither awayIJ “
On various “scams” during the UPA rule, former Foreign Minister Krishna said that the Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, believe in transparency “which is reflected in their corrective actions.”
“Congress has in-built machinery for bringing about appropriate rectifications ...Where ever it is necessary we handed over the matter to CBI and referred to other investigative agencies which shows that -- Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi - they believe in transparency,” he said.
On Congress giving tickets to “tainted Ministers” like Pawan Kumar Bansal and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan (despite Adarsh scam), Mr Krishna said, “As long as they have not been convicted, I think they are entitled to be treated like anybody else - like you and me.” Eom/blr
SM Krishna praises RSS and wants Congress to campaign like RSS Coming out of his shell senior Congress leader and former foreign minister SM Krishna on Wednesday in his first election campaign sprang a surprise by praising RSS and its style of campaign. Krishna who was keeping a low profile since he demitted office came out to campaign for Rizwan Arshad who is a congress candidate from Bangalore Central has asked the party workers to work like RSS and bring people to vote booths. He said “ congress should work like RSS and galvanise people to come to the voting booths.” Krishna at 82 is very agile and was sulking at the Congress for his unscrupulous exit from the Ministry. But after persuasion by Congress party Krishna is back in election trail and has started campaigning for the party.
Earlier talking to media at his residence Krishna dismissed Modi wave and said it was propaganda by the vested interests. He also took a jibe at BJP for sidelining senior leaders in the party.
He said “We have seen those (Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi) waves. They were natural waves which emanated from the hearts of people ... but here the wave which has been created by vested interests is only to be talked and written about, but on the ground we do not see any wave (of Modi),”
Asked why Congress was delaying announcing its candidate against Mr Modi from Varanasi if there was no “Modi wave”, he said it would decide on it and there was plenty of time.
“Congress will announce the candidate. According to the calendar of events, Karnataka elections are going to be held in the earlier phase and elections in Uttar Pradesh are going to be held at later phase, so there is plenty of time,” the former Minister for External Affairs said before his roadshow in support of his party candidates in Bangalore.
He also alleged that lands of farmers had been given to companies like Adani at “questionable price”. “The kind of land dealings in Gujarat, they are just mindboggling. Thousands of acres of land have been given away to Adani and other one or two industrial hubs ... It is the price which when you are going through it, you just feel sorry for the farmers of Gujarat,” he charged.
Krishna directly attacked BJP for sidelining senior leaders like lK Advani and Jaswanth Singh. He said “ there is veneer of dictatorship. God forbid it if something is going to happen where would be our democracy. Then we will have to ask wither democracy, a big question. “
On various “scams” during the UPA rule, former foreign minister Krishna said Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, believe in transparency “which is reflected in the corrective actions” taken by the party.
“Congress has an in-built machinery for bringing about corrective actions ...Where ever it is necessary we handed over the matter to CBI and referred to other investigative agencies - that shows Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi- they believe in certain transparency,” he said.
On Congress giving tickets to “tainted ministers” like Pawan Kumar Bansal and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan (despite Adarsh scam), Mr Krishna said, “As long as they have not been convicted, I think they are entitled to be treated like anybody else - like you and me.” Eom/blr