Bengaluru, Apr 1: the Congress and the JD(S) held their first joint election rally in Bengaluru on Sunday under the leadership of AICC president Rahul Gandhi and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda and all prominent leaders of the alliance.
The well-attended rally was organized at the insistence of Gowda, whose party is facing serious opposition from Congress cadres in Mandya, Tumakuru and Hassan from where he and two of his grandsons are contesting.
Rahul not only heeded Gowda's wish and accommodated the Bengaluru rally in his already-cramped schedule, but did exactly what the former Prime Minister wanted: Tell Congress workers to put aside their difference and sincerely work for JD(S) candidates.
“This is an important election and I want all Congress leaders and workers to work for JD(S) candidates whereever they are contesting,” Rahul twice told the audience in his 30-minute speech in Hindi. He also asked JD(S) leaders to reciprocate and ensure victory for Congress candidates.
Gowda and his chief minister son HD Kumaraswamy made no bones of airing apprehensions of possible “sabotage”. “We need to work as one to defeat BJP and Modi,” Gowda said. “I wanted to send a message to the entire country like the one we convened in May 2018 when Kumaraswamy took oath as CM. This rally has been successful in this direction.”
Gowda also took serious objection to Modi describing the mahagathbandhan as ‘mahamilavat’. “I am pained by his comments,” Gowda said. “Media are also singing the same tune and painting opposition leaders as corrupt. We will prove them wrong after the elections.”
Kumaraswamy appealed to workers of both parties to bury their differences and work for coalition candidates. “Whatever differences there are in two or three seats, forget them. I beg you," Kumaraswamy said.
Former chief minister Siddaramaiah claimed leaders of both parties have forgotten their differences and it is the turn of workers to unite and defeat the BJP.
Rahul sought to attack BJP top guns on the issue of entries of a diary allegedly belonging to former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, which were found by I-T officials during raids on water resources minister DK Shivakumar’s house. The I-T department has said it cannot vouch for the authenticity of the entries, while Yeddyurappa has denied that the jottings are his.
“The diary jottings indicate Yeddyurappa doled out a staggering Rs 1,800 crore to BJP leaders,” Rahul said. “It says Rs 150 crore was given to Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singhji, Gadkariji… Where did he (Yeddyurappa) get this money from? Whose money was it? It was Karnataka people’s money.”
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