PM Modi Attacks Cong for ‘Lollipop Politics’ Ahead of K’taka Visit

PM Modi also used the opportunity to ask BJP cadre to prepare for the next general elections.

File image of PM Narendra Modi.

(Photo: PTI)

Speaking with candidates, office-bearers and elected representatives of the BJP’s Karnataka wing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, 26 April, attacked the Opposition for “indulging in lollipop politics of caste and religion”.

Modi’s message was broadcast via the Narendra Modi app, his YouTube channel and news agency ANI. As Karnataka is set to go to polls, PM Modi will be travelling to Udupi on 1 May, where he will be visiting the Shri Krishna Mutt, and will later address a massive public rally. Reports suggest the PM is likely to campaign for 6 days in the poll-bound state.

Karnataka will go to polls on 12 May and the results are expected on 15 May.

The PM used the video message to not just set the tone for his campaigning in the Karnataka polls but also to ask BJP workers to be prepared to keep the party in power till 2024.

Here are some of the key highlights of PM Modi’s message to his party cadre:

• Parties fear discussions on development as it is measurable. Development is not an issue for the ones who do caste-based politics, they give a lollipop of fake promises to a particular community and then do same with another community in next elections.
• If you analyze the last few elections, you will realise how a few political parties have indulged only in dividing societies on religious lines. They exploit emotions of some community before elections and forget them after the elections.
• We are fighting elections only on the issue of development. There is one aspect on which they can never defeat us, that is our power as a party and the power of the party's youth force.
• We govern and also fight elections based only on development model.
• We have a three-pronged agenda for Karnataka: Development, fast-paced development, all-round development. The BJP has given primary importance for politics of development.
• In 4 years, 20 lakh toilets were constructed by the Congress. We built 34 lakh toilets.
• In Karnataka, we have development works worth Rs 14,000 crore in progress. There is no policy paralysis in India, and our country has been recognised on the world-stage after thirty years.
• Congress has resorted to rampant lying after a series of defeats in elections. In such circumstances, karyakartas must stand their ground, expose their lies and also fight their means of deceiving people by hiring foreign agencies.
• Politics cannot be purified unless we remove Congress culture from politics.
• I have trust in all the karyakartas of Karnataka, and I am confident that lotus will bloom soon in the state.

The prime minister also responded to questions by three Karnataka MLAs on the farmer woes, tackling urban infrastructure with regard to Bengaluru, and the party’s overall agenda for the state elections.

He appealed to the karyakartas of the state to work for BJP’s win, till the date of elections, and have “complete trust” in vikas.