Bengaluru, March 31, 2018: Senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Veerappa Moily joined senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai for a session titled "Can Congress retain Karnataka" at the India Today Karnataka Panchayat event held at Hotel Lalit Ashok in Bengaluru.
Sardesai started by asking, "Since 1985, no chief minister has been re-elected in Karnataka. Can Congress break the jinx?" Mallikarjun Kharge responded saying, "We are definitely coming back. People who say otherwise don't know the ground reality. We don't polarise. Out of 165 promises we made in our election manifesto, we delivered 155. People are happy."
When asked if Congress is fighting the upcoming election on Siddaramaiah's brand image rather than Rahul Gandhi's, Kharge said, "Don't try to divide us. It's not the size of the poster that matters, it is the ideology.
"Kharge said, "Siddaramaiah is, naturally, Congress's captain right now. He's been a great leader and has delivered so much during his regime." Responding to Sardesai who asked if Kannadigas should look at the manifesto or the leader, Veerappa Moily said "both". He said, "Siddaramaiah has implemented all the programmes he'd promised. He is a very strong regional leader. We are proud of him."
Talking about Lingayats being given a minority status, Moily said, "We never rejected minority status to Lingayaats, we only deferred it."
CASTE VS HINDUTVA IN KARNATAKA?
Is Congress fighting the upcoming election making caste its trumpcard, asked Rajdeep Sardesai. Kharge denied saying Congress will fight the election based on development. We have done some work, we ask people to repay in the form of votes.
Kharge said Amit Shah made things quite clear - he said Yeddyurappa is the most corrupt chief minister, and also said Narendra Modi did not do anything for members of the SC/ST communities.
Kharge asked why is it that the Narendra Modi-led NDA government is failing time and again in stopping scammers like Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi from fleeing the country.
RURAL ANGER AGAINST CONGRESS?
During Yeddyurappa's regime, The New York Times reported that Bengaluru is a garbage city but things have changed now. We spent about Rs 8,000 crore during the time of floods. We will make Bengaluru the garden city again.
What did Prime Minister Modi do for farmers, asked Moily. Dr Manmohan Singh waived off crores. Siddaramaiah has been doing so much for farmers, despite getting no help from the Government of India.
BJP is using money power and muscle power to win the election, said Kharge.
On being asked if he would like to be the chief minister, Kharge said, "See, I am not going to die anytime soon. I joined politics at the age of 24. You should not get upset about positions because we work for the ideology. Congress is the only party that helps the weaker sections, the only party that secures secularism and the democratic fabric of the country."