New Delhi: Congress leaders and potential chief minister candidates Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar are “poster boys of corruption” in India, Union Minister of Information Technology and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar said Monday.
The BJP is fighting hard for another term in Karnataka.
As curtains fall on campaigning for the assembly polls, the minister, in an exclusive interview with the ThePrint’s Shanker Arnimesh, addressed a wide range of topics — from the Congress’s reported promise of banning VHP youth wing Bajrang Dal, and its corruption allegations against the Basavaraj Bommai government, to the row over the Hindi movie The Kerala Story.
Here are excerpts from the interview.
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SA: As campaigning ends for the Karnataka assembly elections, what feedback are you getting from the ground?
RC: We’ve placed the three-and-a-half years of good governance before the people — both before and after Covid. But the Congress wants to deflect from the issue of development. Their strategy is clear — attack the prime minister, humiliate our chief minister and speak one lie after another.
They’ve made guarantees and promises that they haven’t kept in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh. They think people have forgotten these unfulfilled promises.
They are also brazenly using vote-bank politics in Karnataka — first they tried to appease the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI, known to be the PFI’s political arm, not banned). That’s why they’ve promised to ban the Bajrang Dal, to please PFI. Their politics is defined by this.
People don’t like these things — our youths, women and farmers don’t like this brand of politics. They want to grow in their life and they know only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government can take them along on their journey.
The Congress is depressed. That’s why they are telling lies one after another. Yesterday, they brought out fake audio of our MLA (Chittarpur BJP candidate Manikanta Rathod purportedly saying he would “finish off the Kharge family”). Their campaign’s going down while ours is doing very well.
SA: They (Congress) are now saying that they’d never spoken about banning Bajrang Dal and that it is the BJP that is using it for polarisation.
RC: They think people of Karnataka are fools and that they can be distracted. People of Karnataka are very smart. They will answer (Mallikarjun) Kharge, D.K. Shivakumar, and Siddaramaiah on 13 May for insulting the prime minister and our chief minister. The people will answer them.
SA: What feedback are you getting from the ground on the Bajrang Dal controversy? Has the issue found resonance on the ground or was it the BJP’s strategy to confuse the Congress campaign?
RC: We don’t have anything on these issues. Our (plank) was always about development. We have placed our report card of a double-engine government before the people. We have presented what we have done in three-and-a-half years to the people. It’s the Congress that has become shameless and brazen. In desperation, they first abused the prime minister and then they started using appeasement politics because they thought that our narrative of development is touching a chord with the people.
Our (Assam) Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has defined the Congress manifesto in the best terms. He said, “It’s not a manifesto for development. It’s a manifesto of appeasement, designed and written by SDPI and PFI.”
Their (Congress’s) three leaders publicly stated that they will take away quota reservations from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to give it Muslims. They’ve not promised reservation to Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs but (promised it) only to one religion. They know it’s unconstitutional but it’s election time and they want to appease them, including one organisation that’s now banned.
The Congress has been doing this for the last 65 years, dividing one community from another. I’m saying with full confidence that on 13 May, people will respond to the politics of appeasement.
SA: Congress has made ‘40 per cent commission’ as its main political narrative. They’ve even issued a rate card for the Bommai government. Will this affect the BJP in the election?
RC: Theirs is a narrative of lies. We’ve placed before the public a comparison between what we’ve done in three-and-a-half years of governance versus 65 years of the Congress’s rule.
The Congress has not said anything about development. They want to distract people by lying.
People understand that the Congress, which is the most corrupt party, which has set a world record in corruption, is (ironically) talking about corruption. Siddaramaiah, who calls himself socialist, wore a watch worth Rs 70 lakh when he was chief minister. D.K. Shivakumar has more First Information Reports and cases to his name than personal assets.
These two CM candidates have become poster boys of political corruption in the country. These two poster boys of corruption are talking about graft and yet they have diluted the Lokayukta. This is the height of hypocrisy.
Politically, Congress’s strategy is to deflect attention from the development agenda, whether it’s the Nandani issue (the Nandini versus Amul row), or abusing the prime minister. Or when Rahul Gandhi lies about the banking sector.
In 2012, I presented a report card (at a press conference) that said nine corporate groups had cornered 90 per cent of economic assets at that time. They think people can’t tell a lie apart from truth.
SA: Why are you selling The Kerala Story in Karnataka? What is its relevance there?
RC: This is not selling. Two parties (United Democratic Front and the Left Democratic Front) in Kerala began appeasement politics in the state. Eventually, it became severe. People are now joining terrorist organisations. ‘Love jihad’ is happening.
There are a lot of similarities between Kerala and Karnataka. It’s Congress ideology that’s supporting the SDPI in Kerala and appeasing the PFI. The Congress in Kerala and Karnataka are doing the same things.
Kerala’s social fabric has been distorted. It’s our duty to ensure there’s awareness. It’s not linked to the election. If the story had come after the election, then, too, we would have spread awareness in the same way.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)