On Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the BJP was confident of securing a “poorn bahumat” [full majority] in the impending Karnataka Assembly elections after launching an all-out attack against the Congress party.
At a public rally in Farmagudi, Ponda, in South Goa, Shah criticised the Congress for its ‘defeat’ in recent Assembly elections in Tripura, Nagaland, and Meghalaya, despite Rahul Gandhi’s high-decibel campaign after his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Recently, Rahul dad finished his pilgrimage. All Congress leaders appeared ecstatic that Rahul-ji participated in the yatra. Afterward, elections were held in three Northeastern states… considered a Congress stronghold due to the substantial Christian population. Rahul father visited there… Congress was obliterated as a result of vigorous campaigning. In Tripura, under the leadership of PM Modi, we formed a government with an absolute majority; in Nagaland, 13 of our MLAs were re-elected; and in Meghalaya, we supported the formation of the government.”
“Cautioning the Congress leaders against ‘insulting’ the smaller states, Shah said, ‘When we won in Goa, Uttarakhand, and other states in the Northeast, [Mallikarjun] Kharge responded that these are minor states. These are small states, but they are vital to India, Kharge saheb. Do not overlook this. Do not disparage these minor nations…Goa is like a ‘bindiya’ on the forehead of Bharat Mata. The greater the Centre’s responsibility for a state’s development, the lesser the state. This has been the policy of the Modi administration.”
Shah urged the people of Goa to vote for the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, stating, “I am here today specifically for the South Goa constituency. There remains one year until the 2024 election. In all of Goa, lotus will blossom…I have witnessed the same sentiment [in favour of the BJP] in Odisha and Telangana, and today I want to inform Kharge-ji and Rahul-baba that the BJP will form the government in Karnataka with an absolute majority.”
Shah praised Goa’s chief minister Pramod Sawant for forming a government with a complete majority and bringing stability to the state. He then stated that the BJP government had resolved the long-standing issue of mining in Goa and that it would recommence within a year.
Shah stated that the Congress only promoted parivar-vad, casteism, and corruption, and that only the BJP practises development politics.
“Does Kashmir belong to us? Should Article 370 have been eliminated? Congress had delayed action on Article 370 for seventy years…When the Congress was in control in Goa, the state received only Rs 432 crore annually; however, under Modi Ji, Goa receives over Rs 3,000 crore annually,” he added.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant expressed confidence that the BJP would win both North Goa and South Goa Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 elections.
Congress leaders in Goa alleged that several of their party’s functionaries, including Goa Congress president Amit Patkar, were detained by the Goa Police and prevented from travelling to Ponda in order to protest Shah’s recent remark on the Mhadei issue.
