BJP’s national president JP Nadda on Wednesday flagged off the party’s Vijaya Sankalpa Yatra at MM Hills in Chamarajanagar district. The national president unveiled a customised truck which will be used for the rally after visiting Male Mahadeshwara Temple.
Speaking at an interaction programme after inaugurating the Yatra, Nadda said the country had made progress under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked people to further this progress under the leadership of Bommai and Yediyurappa. “If BJP is strong, Karnataka’s development will continue forward, and for the state’s development we must support the BJP and its symbol lotus during the election,” Nadda said.
Highlighting that the country is today the fifth largest economy overtaking Britain, Nadda spoke about the nation’s progress in pharma, mobile and automobile, among other sectors. The BJP government under Modi has worked for the development of all sections of the society especially the poor and downtrodden, he said, adding that today several prominent positions in the country are occupied by personalities from the SC/ST community, and President of India Droupadi Murmu belongs to the tribal community.
“There has been a 190% increase in the tribal budget under the BJP government at the Centre, We are also setting up ‘Ekalavya Vidyalaya’ in tribal areas and other schemes and programmes for the betterment of the tribal community, including the opening of the Tribal Research Centres,” he added.
Later in the evening, addressing a public meeting at Hanuru, he said, Congress is a party which believes in corruption, commission, nepotism and division. “Look at the Congress’ language, they have crossed all the lines of political decorum and are indulging in abuse, they cannot even speak in the civilised language. They are saying ‘Modi theri kabr khudegi’ (Modi your grave will be dug), but the country is saying ‘Modi tera kamal khilega’ (Modi your lotus will bloom),” he added. The rally is the first in the series of four Yatras, which will together traverse about 8,000 km over the next 20 days, covering all 224 Assembly constituencies, holding about 75 public meetings and 150 road shows.
While the yatra flagged on Wednesday will cover 58 constituencies in 10 districts of southern and coastal Karnataka viz. Chamarajanagar, Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga and Davangere, the three other Yatras will be inaugurated by defence minister Rajnath Singh and Union home minister Amit Shah on March 2 and 3.
While defence minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to flag off the second yatre on March 2 from Nandagad in Belagavi district, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is slated to launch the third and fourth yatres that will start from Basavakalyana in Bidar district and Avathy in Devanahalli near Bengaluru, on March 3, in the morning and afternoon, respectively.
According to party leaders, more than 50 state and national leaders will take part in this campaign, which will cover all 31 districts and 224 constituencies of the State, where elections are due by May. The 20-day long yatre will culminate with a mega rally in the district headquarters town of Davangere on March 25 which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
(With PTI inputs)