The present term of the Karnataka Assembly will end on May 30, 2018 and the elections to the 224 seats are due to be held in April-May. Karnataka is presently ruled by the Indian National Congress after it routed a BJP-led government in the 2013 elections. Karnataka, the only big southern state ever won by the BJP and the largest state currently ruled by the INC is witnessing an election like no other and both parties, along with the regional outfit (JD-S) are leaving no stone unturned in their campaign efforts. Leaders of all parties have already busy tallying votes and supports for the upcoming battle.
Truthfully, the Siddaramaiah Government in Karnataka has not performed any good. Karnataka and its Chief Minister have, unfortunately, become more infamous in the recent years due to a plethora of reasons like environmental degradation, Bengaluru’s potholes, religious factionalism and feuds. BJP, on a winning spree across the length and breadth of the nation and bolstered by the induction of Shri S.M. Krishna, one of the tallest leaders in Karnataka, sees a good chance to snatch the state from the INC’s kitty. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the BJP brought its biggest gun to Karnataka. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a giant rally on the Palace Grounds, Bengaluru to spearhead BJP’s electoral drive in Karnataka. He was joined in the rally by Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Piyush Goyal, who are in-charge of the BJP poll campaign in Karnataka and Ananth Kumar, DV Sadananda Gowda and Ananthkumar Hegde, who hail from the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, true to his style, went in all guns blazing in his Bengaluru rally, ripping apart the Congress government on various counts. The Prime Minister listed out the various development programmes undertaken by BJP in the state and assured the people of Karnataka that BJP is working hard to develop infrastructural facilities in Karnataka according to the needs of 21st century. Attacking the Chief Minister, Modi said that the people of Karnataka are not able to see the development works being undertaken by the Central Government and the people are not able to enjoy the benefits because of the incumbent Chief Minister.
Stating the importance of electricity in our country and his goal to bring power to every home, he pointed out while there will be chaos in Bengaluru if it doesn’t get electricity for a day, there are over 7 lakhs homes in Karnataka and 4 crores homes in the nation which lives in dark even after so many years of independence. Drawing from his recent budget, He stated that it has solved one major problem of Karnataka. With an investment of Rs 17,000 crores, construction work of 160 km long sub-urban railway network will be started in Bengaluru. It is estimated that over 15 lakhs commuters of the city will be benefited by it.
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Lauding the Ujjwala program, he stated that the 1.85 crore free LPG connections have been given in Karnataka and more than 34 lakh toilets have been made under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The Central Government has set an ambitious goal to build more than 9,000 kms long National Highway across the nation this year. Under Bharatmala Pariyojana, 35,000 km of roads will be constructed over the coming years.
Lauding Shri BS Yeddurappa, a son of a farmer who became a Chief Minister, PM Modi stated that in this budget, the government has made a significant decision so that correct price of crops is given to farmers. Farmers producing fruits & vegetables are ‘TOP’ priority. ‘TOP’ means ‘Tomato, Onion & Potato’. ‘Operation green’ would be beneficial for farmers just like the Amul model was successful in dairy. This will have dual benefits. When facilities are provided to villages, migration to cities will go down and the mounting pressure on cities will be released, bettering lives in both. He directly attacked the Congress for politicizing issues and stalling bills like the Triple Talaq Bill and the OBC Bill. But undoubtedly, the highlight of his Bengaluru speech and the one point that caused the most heartburns in the Congress camp was his jibe on law and order in Karnataka that while the world is discussing ease of doing business, in Karnataka ease of murdering is being discussed.
BJP has high chances of wresting Karnataka from the Congress and there is no doubt that with PM Modi’s latest rally, their chances have increased. The General has prepared and put his war plans in motion. It is now up to the foot soldiers to fight in the trenches, from house to house, vote by vote to win the day.