Davengere (Karnataka), Feb 18: One family controls the Congress and there’s no democracy within the party, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said Tuesday.
Referring to the two-day visit of Congress vice chairman Rahul Gandhi to the state Feb 15-16, Modi said he was stunned by his (Gandhi’s) claim that there was no “high command” within the Congress.
“Do you suspect what Rahul says that there’s no high command within the Congress? what’s the Congress while not the high command?
“One family rules that party. there’s no democracy within the Congress.”
Addressing a large rally at Davengere, concerning 260 km from Bangalore, Modi urged the people to finish the decade-long Congress rule.
“If you want to save the country, there’s just one mantra: free India from the Congress within the returning elections.”
Calling the Congress an arrogant party, that he said had ruined India by perpetuating a one-family rule, Modi said the party suffered because of its dynastic leadership and more.
“During mahatma Gandhi’s times, the Congress was a noble plan and a noble thought. With faux Gandhis taking up the party, its plan and thought have modified dramatically. Its leaders assume solely they need the brains et al. are brainless,” he said in his 45-minute address.
He appealed to the people to vote for the BJP within the Lok Sabha polls.
Modi said for each lotus (BJP’s election symbol) Karnataka sends to parliament, he would come it with the Hindu goddess Lakshmi sitting in it to lead off prosperity within the state.
“I want lotus from each parliamentary constituency in Karnataka. i will send it (lotus) back with Lakshmi in it,” he said to thunderous applause from the gathering on a hot sunny afternoon.
Karnataka has 28 parliamentary constituencies. In 2009, the BJP won nineteen seats, the Congress six and the Janata Dal-Secular 3 seats.
Visiting the state for the second time when being appointive the prime ministerial candidate, Modi shared the dais for the primary time with the party’s former chief minister B.S. Yeddyruappa, who came to the BJP last month from the Karnataka Janata Party he floated in Dec 2012.