The Hindu : Karnataka News : ‘Only BJP can ensure all-round development’

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

‘Only BJP can ensure all-round development’

Staff Correspondent

Modi seeks votes for K.G. Bopaiah
‘Congress leaders obsessed with Gujarat’

VIRAJPET: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday appealed to the people of Karnataka to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party to usher in a stable government and ensure all-round development.

He was addressing an election rally at the taluk office grounds here, seeking votes for the BJP candidate for Virajpet constituency K.G. Bopaiah.

People of the State voted to make the BJP the number one party in the 2004 elections, he said and added that they should give a clear mandate to the BJP this time to have a stable government.

Voters would teach a lesson to those who had “killed democracy” in the State, he said in a veiled reference to the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress.

Mr. Modi challenged the Congress leaders in the State, who were holding his Government to ridicule, on whether they had the capacity to turn Karnataka into a progressive region like Gujarat. Only the BJP could make Karnataka a progressive State, he said.

Growth rate of Gujarat, at 11.2 per cent, was the highest in Asia. The Congress in Karnataka had not been able to take the growth rate of the State over 7 per cent. Would the Congress ensure three-phase, round-the-clock, uninterrupted electric power supply like Gujarat either in Delhi or Karnataka, he said.

Congress leaders were obsessed with Gujarat and they mentioned him and his State more often than development issues in the State, he said.

He expressed concern over the spread of terrorist activities to Karnataka.

Mr. Modi was presented with a Kodava “mandetuni” (turban) and an “odikathi” (the traditional curved dagger) by the local leaders earlier.

Party leaders such as Vijayashankar, MP for Mysore, Mr. Bopaiah, M.M. Chengappa, M.W. Aiyappa and M.P. Sunil Subramani were present.

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