Ahead of the Assembly elections in Karnataka, the state Congress unit said it will launch its campaign tour titled ‘Prajadhwani’ yatra from Belagavi on Wednesday, January 11. The yatra will be led jointly by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah. Addressing the media, Congress also released a ‘Paapada Purana’ (book of sins) or chargesheet on the BJP government. The party also launched a website named prajadhwani.com, asking people to share their aspirations to formulate the party’s manifesto.
In a press statement, the party said that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was acting as a “puppet” in the hands of the BJP high command. Former CM Siddaramaiah said that Bommai is “not just corrupt but also incompetent.” Alleging that the fund devolution from the Union government was among the lowest for Karnataka, he referred to the Bommai government as ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.’
Announcing that the campaign tour will be launched from Belagavi, DK Shivakumar recalled Mahatma Gandhi’s connection to the city where he had presided over the 39th conference of the Indian National Congress back in 1924. The yatra bus was unveiled at the party office in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
The party also unveiled the Prajadhwani campaign logo on Tuesday, along with a document titled BJP Paapada Purana in which it alleged that 90%of the BJP government’s manifesto promises remained unfulfilled. “Today, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee is releasing BJP’s Paapada Purana to expose the failures of the BJP government, outlining their record of corruption, policy paralysis, and unfulfilled promises,” the press statement said.
The party blamed the BJP for a drastic rise in the prices of essential commodities and alleged mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. Referring to the BJP government as ‘40% sarkara’ in reference to the alleged demands for commission from contractors, the ‘chargesheet’ alleged that nearly Rs 1.5 lakh crore was pocketed through corruption under the BJP government. It also alleged that there was a rise in farmer suicides, school dropouts and unemployment under the BJP government.
ಇಂದು ಕೆಪಿಸಿಸಿ ಕಚೇರಿಯ ಎಂದು ಕೆಪಿಸಿಸಿ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷರಾದ @DKShivakumar ಸಿಎಲ್ಪಿ ನಾಯಕರಾದ @siddaramaiah ಅವರು ರಾಜ್ಯದಾದ್ಯಂತ ಸಂಚರಿಸಲಿರುವ #PrajaDwani ಯಾತ್ರೆಯ ಬಸ್ನ್ನು ಅನಾವರಣಗೊಳಿಸಿದರು.
— Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) January 10, 2023
ರಾಜ್ಯದಾದ್ಯಂತ ಸಂಚರಿಸುವ ಯಾತ್ರೆಯು ಭ್ರಷ್ಟ ಬಿಜೆಪಿ ಸರ್ಕಾರದಿಂದ ನೊಂದಿರುವ ಪ್ರಜೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಧ್ವನಿಯಾಗಿ, ಭರವಸೆಯಾಗಿ ಮುನ್ನೆಡೆಯಲಿದೆ. pic.twitter.com/H4U2hkwwiY