'Bengaluru Rakshisi': BJP kicks off campaign, Siddaramaiah lashes out

Ahead of the Karnataka assembly elections, political parties are doing all they can to woo voters. On Friday, the BJP focused on Bengaluru, and launched the ‘Bengaluru Rakshisi’ campaign.

The campaign to ‘Protect Bengaluru’ was flagged off by Human Resources Minister Prakash Javadekar from the Sri Gavi Ganghadhareshwara Temple temple in Basavanagudi, and will be taken to all 28 constituencies in the city in the next two weeks.

Image Courtesy: Twitter/Ananthkumar

Parts of the city witnessed major roadblocks, as BJP cadres took to the street shouting slogans on how Bengaluru has sunk because of Congress' corruption. The Congress also had a counter protest.

The BJP says that there are various mafias which are ruining Bengaluru, including the sand, tanker, builder and drug mafias. Infrastructure development has come down, and traffic has become one of the city’s biggest problems, the BJP said.

Others in attendance during today’s rally included MP Ananthkumar, former Home Minister R Ashoka, Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation D V Sadananda Gowda and BBMP corporators.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah lashed out at the BJP, and said that they are the ones who have tarnished the image of the city. The CM also added that the BJP must protect itself before protecting others.

"Since the Congress came to power in 2013, Bengaluru has turned into a garbage city, a crime city and a rape city from what it was known for greenery, salubrious climate and IT prowess," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and BJP's state unit in-charge earlier said. 

The city's infrastructure was in ruins due to corruption and scams, he alleged.

While announcing the campaign, Javadekar lashed out at the government, and said that the Congress had made the city “hell” to live in.

"Mismanagement of traffic, unscientifically designed infrastructure projects and bad construction practices allowed to flourish by Siddaramaiah have permanently clogged the traffic,” a booklet released by the BJP government while launching the campaign said.

Responding to this, the CM called the allegations “baseless” and tweeted on Thursday that while people (BJP) were defaming the city, they (Congress) were transforming Bengaluru. 

While some people are busy defaming my city, we are transforming Bengaluru.

We are building:

World class public transport through Namma Metro, Bengaluru Sub-Urban Rail & BMTC.

World Class Roads through Tender Sure & White Topping#BengaluruOurPride https://t.co/s8W7hHNXQE

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) March 1, 2018

The JD(S) has reportedly jumped into the fray, and has decided to hold a 10-day padayatra to highlight it's achievements when they were in power.