Karnataka polls: It's a pro-incumbency election, says Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday said he believed that the "Modi factor" would play a role in the May 10 Karnataka Assembly polls and help return the BJP to power in this "pro-incumbency election".

He described the Congress's campaign against the BJP government in the state as "40 per cent commission sarkar'' as a "fake narrative" to "deflect away" from the opposition party's "long history of corruption and exploitation of Karnataka".

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"It's pro-incumbency election -- where BJP's 'double-engine sarkar' report card of service during the most challenging time in Karnataka's history with floods first and two years of covid is known to the people of Karnataka -- governance that was a sharp contrast to the years of Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) exploitation," the Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka told PTI.

On the impact of the 'Modi factor' in the polls, he said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is India's most trusted and loved leader, and he has transformed political culture in every state that has a BJP government -- the politics is of development and good governance for all."

He added, "Under PM Modi, people of Karnataka were protected during the very challenging time of covid, and a new era of investments and jobs and opportunity for all has started in Karnataka. His vision of 'New India' has a big role in 'Nava Karnataka' and young Kannadigas," the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology said.

He alleged that the Congress was a "collection of private business interests of state Congress president D K Shivakumar and his cronies, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and former Minister K J George and their cronies and contractors, and Rahul Gandhi's very own family interests - masquerading as a political party."

"They (the Congress) are no different from other dynasty parties like their ally DMK," Chandrasekhar said. "The reality is that Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah and Rahul Gandhi are poster boys of the exploitation and corruption that Congress represents."

For many elections since 2004, Karnataka voters had not given a clear mandate and, as a result, "vested interests" and repeated "opportunistic Cong/JDS alliances" had "really held back" Karnataka's and Kannadigas' future, according to him.

"It's time in these elections 2023 for Karnataka to have a strong and stable BJP 'double-engine government' for five years of good, clean governance and accelerated development," the minister said.

On the party's ticket distribution strategy, Chandrasekhar said the BJP was a party that was building the "future" of India and Karnataka and was continuously bringing new, young, energetic, public service oriented "karyakartas" into electoral politics, noting that 74 out of the total 224 candidates were new faces.

It was natural that some older leaders would have to make way for the new, young generation in the interests of the future of the state and party, he noted.

"However, some like (former Chief Minister Jagadish) Shettar (who quit the BJP and joined the Congress after being denied a ticket to contest) have concluded that their ambition is more important than the future of the state and have chosen to abandon their belief and ideology and move to the Congress.

"Both of them (Shettar) and (former Deputy Chief Minister) Laxman Savadi (who also quit the BJP and joined the Congress) will certainly bring an inglorious end to their otherwise respected careers," he said

Chandrasekhar said the election was about the future direction of the state -- a future where a hard working BJP's "double-engine government" under Modi which was "accelerating development and improving the lives of people", or a coalition of Congress-JD(S) which is interested in making the state "an ATM for a few families". "Those are two choices in elections 2023.