At Sedam rally, he lashes out at Siddaramaiah govt.

Commending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance on all fronts, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday claimed that India’s image in the world had been changed from a weak and poor country to a strong and fast developing economy after Modi-led NDA government assumed power at the Centre.

He said at an election rally here that “Earlier, India was recognised as a weak and underdeveloped country. We, in the last four years, changed it. Now, the international community recognises us as a strong and fastest growing economy. Even renowned economists, political analysts and academicians don’t dismiss​ this fact. India’s image in the global platform got uplifted.”

Targeting the previous Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and Siddaramaiah-led government in Karnataka on corruption, Mr. Singh claimed that both the NDA governments at the Centre led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi gave a clean and effective governance with no tainted person in their Council of Ministers.

Mr. Singh immediately took the name of B.S. Yeddyurappa, BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate for Karnataka, to praise him for his “pro-farmer” concerns and initiatives to offer interest-free loans to the farming community.

‘Politically motivated’

Strongly criticising Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for according minority religion status to Lingayats, Mr. Singh alleged that the State Cabinet’s move on the issue was “politically motivated.” “The Siddaramaiah government did so only for preventing Mr. Yeddyurappa from becoming the next Chief Minister of Karnataka. You should not allow Congress to succeed in its politically motivated designs.”

Criticising the Congress government for its ‘failure’ in maintaining law and order in the State, Mr. Singh said that people in the bureaucratic apparatus, let alone the common man, did not feel safe under Siddaramaiah rule. Referring to the murders reported from coastal areas of the State, Mr. Singh expressed concern over “the culture of political murders expanding from Kerala to Karnataka.”

“Vote BJP to power and I will, as Union Home Minister, see how anybody dare touch our activists. We will not only protect our activists, we will also protect Congress workers. We will protect all people.”

He termed the Siddaramaiah government as ‘Nidra’ [sleep] government that had been in sound sleep for the last four years. “Don’t wake it up now. Let it continue to sleep. Simply vote for the BJP so that the sleeping government is replaced,” he said.

BJP nominee for Sedam constituency Rajkumar Patil Telkur, State general secretary of BJP’s women wing Shruthi and others were present.