Poll bound Karnataka is witnessing tremendous campaign by parties who are betting big. In his blitzkrieg Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is campaigning in Karnataka on Saturday has hit out at Congress and called the century old party as PPPs. And also for the first time in Gadag in north Karnataka Modi in his campaign trail hits the bulls eye and spoke about contentious Mahadayi river water sharing issue between Karnataka and Goa. He assured the people of north Karnataka who are agitating for over two years for getting drinking water to the parched fiver districts to resolve the Mahadayi amicably talking to all concerned.
Modi all guns blazing mounted a scathing attack on the Congress over corruption and asserted it will become "Punjab, Puducherry, Parivar" Congress after its defeat in the Karnataka Assembly polls. He slammed Siddaramaiah Government and called it corruption tank for the congress with pipe line connected directly to Delhi where the money reaches.
Modi claimed, the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi had said during Goa Assembly elections in 2007 that her party as"committed" to not allowing Karnataka its share of water. "Now that they are out of power in Goa, they are instigating people of Karnataka on the Mahadayi issue—their job (atkana, latkana, bhatkana) to block, leave things hanging fire, and mislead people. Instead of finding a solution to Mahadayi dispute, Congress government sent it to a tribunal," he said. “Talking to concern parties we will resolve the issue amicably”, he assured the cheering crowd .
Analysts say this might change the saffron party’s fortunes in north Karnataka as Modi promised to resolve Mahadayi which has become a major election issue.May 12th elections are crucial and Modi is campaigning vigorously for BJP which is banking on him.
The 77-km-long Mahadayi originates at Bhimgad in the Western Ghats in Belagavi district and flows into Goa and joins the Arabian Sea off the West Coast. Although the river flows 29km in Karnataka and 52km in Goa, its catchment area is spread over 2,032km in the southern state as against 1,580km in the western state (Goa).Karnataka has been asking Goa since 2001 to release 7.6 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of the river water to meet drinking and irrigation needs of its people in the four drought-prone districts namely — Gadag, Bagalkote, Belagavi and Dharwad — in the state’s northwest region.
He also accused the top Congress leadership of auctioning tickets, party positions and even the chief minister's post. "After May 15 (when poll results will be declared), Indian National Congress will be reduced to 'PPP Congress'-- P for Punjab, P for Puducherry, and P for Parivar (family)," Modi told an election rally in Gadag, where he predicted the state's ruling party would be decimated in the elections.
"After the helicopter scam, coal scam, CWG scam and many others, the Congress has now started a tender system... there is tender for ticket distribution, for selecting leaders, for choosing even the chief minister. Their leaders in Karnataka have been told by those above them that the person who promises to send the highest amount of money to Delhi every month will become the Chief Minister," he alleged.
"I tell you why... Because their ministers and leaders in Karnataka have built a tank here. A part of money looted from people is taken home and the rest is put in that tank. The tank is linked to Delhi through a pipeline which carries the money directly to Delhi.They are worried about what will happen to the party if this government goes. Be alert, be awake. If the Congress comes to power, its government will do nothing but loot," he said to fill the "corruption tank", the Congress has created a network of extortion mafia, and it is worried what will happen to that.
Siddaramaiah was once again in Modi's line of fire, with the prime minister calling his government "seedha rupaiah sarkar" (government that takes bribe). "Money is bad," he noted, recalling what saint poet Shishunala Sharifa once said. But for Karnataka's Congress government, it is "Baap bada na bhaiya, sab se bada rupaiya(when it comes to money not even your relations are important)."
"Your Chief Minister has changed the saying itself... Baap bhi bada, bhaiya bhi bada aur us se bhi upar rupiya; seeda seeda rupaiya (Relations are important and money is even more important)," Modi said.
Earlier addressing an election rally in Tumakuru, Modi alleged that the Congress and JD(S) have entered into a "secret" pact for the Karnataka polls. "If anyone is protecting the Congress, it is the JD (S).... Congress and JD(S) have a secret understanding... an understanding behind the curtains," he said.
"Garibi, garibi, garibi (poverty, poverty, poverty) was their constant rant. But once the son of a poor mother became the prime minister, they clammed shut... now they don't talk about poverty," he slammed the congress and asked voters to "punish" the Congress for Karnataka's better future.
Modi on Saturday has campaigned in Tumakuru, Gadag, Shivamogga and Mangaluru.