Kolar: In a bid to cash in on AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge's snake barb, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that he accepts being called a snake as it is Lord Shiva's adornment.
"Now, what is their biggest issue in Karnataka elections? Snake is now the biggest issue of Congress in the election. Snake that spits venom. These people are comparing me with a snake and are asking for votes from the public."
"But, brothers and sisters, the snake is the adornment of Lord Shankar's neck, and for me the people of the country are the form of God. They are the form of Lord Shiva. Therefore, I accept being a snake which is an adornment of Lord Shiva's neck," he said while addressing a public rally here.
The people of Karnataka will give a befitting reply to the Congress, he said
"But I know that the people of Karnataka, the land of saints and rituals, will give a befitting reply to this abuse of the Congress through their votes and shatter all their plans."
"This displeasure, this anger of God-like public against Congress is about to come out in full swing at the polling booth on May 10," Modi added.
PM Modi also gave a counter-punch against Congress narrative of 40 per cent commission government by saying that the Congress is a party of 85 per cent commision, fact that was admitted by its senior leader and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"Congress has always been known as a party of 85 per cent commission. The then PM (Rajiv Gandhi) of the Congress had said that out of 1 rupee, only 15 paise reaches the beneficiary. It is an acknowledgement from their PM, and therefore, the Congress government can never develop Karnataka," he said.
Karnataka Congress had launched a 40 per cent commission barb against the Karnataka government. But, the ruling party has been dismissing it by saying that the opposition party has not taken a single legal step to prove the corruption charges.
Modi said people cannot expect action against the corrupt if the top leadership of Congress itself is out on bail.
"Even today, the royal family and their close aides are out on bail on different scams worth crores of rupees. You can't expect action against the corrupt if the top leadership of Congress are on bail," he said.
Taking a dig at Congress, Modi said the track record of the grand old party is not fulfilling its guarantees. "Nowadays Congress has again taken out its bundle of false guarantees. The track record of Congress is that it never fulfills its guarantees," he said.
"In 2005, the Congress had given a guarantee to the people of the country that by the year 2009 it would provide electricity to every household. The Congress ruled till 2014, giving them almost a decade to fulfill the guarantees they had given. When we formed the government in 2014, we were stunned, leave aside electricity to every household ... Congress had not even provided electricity to any village," he explained.
"There were 18,000 villages where electricity had not reached and we have shown this by providing electricity to 18,000 villages and 25 million people in just 1000 days," he added.
Modi said it is necessary to save Karnataka from the "corrupt clutches" of Congress and JDS. "You have seen this result when a stable government was formed at the centre. The BJP government at the center did such big works of development that were pending for several decades," he said.
"Before 2014, during the era of corruption; during the period of Congress government, the world had given up all hopes from India. Your one vote for BJP changed the whole situation. Today India's prestige is high, the pace of the economy is fast and the world is calling India a bright spot," he added.
BJP's resolve is to make Karnataka No.1 state of India, and therefore a double-engine government is necessary in the state, Modi said.
"As long as the Congress-JDS alliance remained here, there was a brake on the development of Karnataka. When the double-engine government was formed here, then the development here gained momentum. The weak, out-of-touch engine of the Congress can never develop Karnataka," he said.
Modi said the double-engine government that is working for modern connectivity will create new possibilities in this entire region. "The Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway will create new opportunities for both farmers and industry here, work on it is going on a fast pace," he said.
Modi said it is also necessary to save Karnataka from an instable government. (UNI)