The Hindu : Karnataka News : Only Congress will listen to the voice of the poor: Rahul Gandhi

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Only Congress will listen to the voice of the poor: Rahul Gandhi

Staff Correspondent

Attacks National Democratic Alliance’s record on dealing with terrorism

Campaign trail: AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi (centre) waving at the crowds at an election rally at Kundapur in Udupi district on Monday. Former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily (right) and Union Minister Prithviraj Chavan are also seen.

Kundapur (Udupi district): The All India Congress Committee General Secretary Rahul Gandhi said on Monday that only the Congress party could provide a stable government in the State. He was speaking at a public meeting at the Gandhi Maidan, here.

Mr. Gandhi said that only a Congress government would focus on the development of the State and “listen to the voice of the poor people”. He said that the State had made rapid strides in development when the Congress party, under S.M. Krishna was ruling the State. Karnataka was then the most progressive State. “But the State suffered when the Karnataka Development Front (KDF) Government came to power. This Government lacked direction on developmental issues and hardly paid attention to the needs of the poor people,” he said.

He said the KDF Government spent its time in fighting for the “spoils of office”. The result was that Karnataka had now been overtaken by other States in the country. “The KDF Government was confused and lacked the desire to solve the fundamental problems of the State. The infighting between the coalition partners resulted in instability and premature elections,” he said.

Mr. Gandhi said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government had come up with various programmes for the poor such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) Scheme and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The KDF Government had failed in implementing these programmes properly.

‘Raising issues’

He said Opposition parties were not interested in developmental issues. They were only raising issues such as terrorism to score debating points. The charge of the Opposition parties was that the UPA Government was soft on terrorism.

“When the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government was in power, Kashmir was in flames and the then Union Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh had taken hardcore militants with him to negotiate with the terrorists at Kandahar in Afghanistan. They compromised with the terrorists. They believe that people have short-term memories and would have forgotten about it, Mr. Gandhi said.

At another meeting in Harpanahalli, about 45 km from Davangere district, Mr. Gandhi made a direct reference to mining businessmen who are contesting elections on the BJP ticket, including Janardhana Reddy in Harpanahalli. He said that the businessmen think they can buy people and votes with their money.

“Disprove their illusion and vote against such people who think they can do anything with money,” he said.

Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes, Chairman of AICC Media Cell M. Veerappa Moily, Union Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Congress leaders Vinaykumar Sorake, M.A. Gafoor, U.R. Sabhapathi, Praveen Davar, K. Jayaprakash Hegde, Gopal Poojary, Pramod Madhwaraj and Vasanth V. Salian were present.

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