Hubballi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi being received by BJP workers as he arrives at Hubballi airport, in Karnataka on Tuesday. (PTI Photo) Hubballi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi being received by BJP workers as he arrives at Hubballi airport, in Karnataka on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)

Continuing his tirade against the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday termed it as “seeda Rupaiya sarkar” (money first), a reference to corruption, and said it should not be allowed to continue ‘even for a minute’.

Mocking the Siddaramaiah government as “a seeda Rupaiya sarkar”, PM Modi charged that everything was happening for a price in Karnataka. “You have such a chief Minister here. Some people feel that in Karnataka there is Siddaramaiah government. But the fact is that here there is seeda Rupaiya sarkar. In everything there is seeda Rupaiya, only then work happens,” Modi said while addressing a BJP farmers’ rally in the central Karnataka district of Davangere.

The rally was organised by the Karnataka unit of the BJP to mark the 75th birthday of state BJP president and CM candidate B S Yeddyurappa, who is being projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the forthcoming assembly elections in the state.

Further, the prime minister stepped up his attack on ruling Congress government in the state on alleged graft and blamed the Congress culture for the ills facing the country. “The Karnataka Government is certain to be defeated. Their misdeeds have made the Government unpopular,” PM Modi said, asserting that there was public anger against the Siddaramaiah regime.

“You tell me do you want this seeda Rupaiya culture? Do you want seeda Rupaiya kaarnaama? Will a common man get justice only from this seeda Rupaiya?” Modi posed to the crowd. “This seeda Rupaiya government has to go,” Modi said, adding, there should be an honest government in Karnataka. “That is the reason now, that in Karnataka instead of seeda Rupaiya business there should be a government that listens to its people and does their work.”

Modi also said the situation had now reached such a point that because of the “weight of their own sins, let alone Karnataka, they will not be able to save the Congress.”

“You see across the country. Whenever the people have got an opportunity they have first removed Congress. Because the country has come to know that the root cause for all our ills is Congress’ culture and when there is congress culture, every thing that we see is not good…..nothing good we can see,” he said.

Projecting his government as a pro-farmer, Modi said the NDA government has taken several steps for the transformation of the agriculture sector. He also pointed out that the crop insurance scheme brought by the NDA government was a comprehensive one and reiterated his pledge to double the income of farmers by 2022.

Value addition always helps farmers and brings more prosperity, he said, adding that ‘Operation Greens’ would have a very positive impact on the agriculture sector.

The BJP has been building a campaign around farmer issues in the run-up to the Assembly polls by citing farm suicides and accusing the ruling Congress of not waiving farm loans like the BJP-ruled UP and Maharastra governments.

While the BJP has played the Hindu card in coastal districts, it is attempting to win over the farming community in much of the rest of Karnataka by highlighting farm distress and the occurence of 3,000 farmer suicides in the last five years. The BJP has cited Congress failure to facilitate central schemes in the state like crop insurance as a cause for the deaths.

Accusing the Congress of ‘not utilising’ central funds for Karnataka, PM Modi asked, “Centre allocates funds by why is it that Congress government in Karnataka not spending it for welfare of people.” He also alleged that no work is done in the state without any commission.

This was the third visit of Modi in about a month to Karnataka, where the party is seeking to return to power in the elections, expected to be held in April or May.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App.

© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd