After Lok Sabha polls phase II washout, desperate PM fear-mongering: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is indulging in “fear mongering” as he is “desperate” after facing a “washout” in the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions for the prime minister ahead of his rallies in Karnataka.

“After the Phase II washout, a desperate PM is on a spree of Karnataka rallies today. Instead of lying and fear mongering, these are the questions he should answer,” Ramesh said, listing his posers.

“Why have BJP MPs performed so poorly as the people’s representatives? After a 7-month delay, why has the Centre released less than 20 per cent of drought relief funds? Why is the Centre holding up the Upper Bhadra and Mahadayi projects?” the Congress leader said on X.

Elaborating on what he said were “jumla details”, Ramesh asked where have BJP MPs been while the Modi government has been “unleashing its vengeance” on Karnataka.

Citing the latest data from the Parliamentary Research Service (PRS), Ramesh claimed that the BJP MPs from Karnataka have shown a blatant disregard for their responsibilities, and displayed lack of commitment to serving their constituents. “While the national average attendance in Parliament was 79 per cent, the average of the 28 Karnataka MPs was even lower at 71 per cent. The review revealed that 26 of these MPs never raised Karnataka’s concerns - the release of MGNREGA funds, drought and flood relief assistance, and the Centre’s denial of additional allocations of rice for PDS,” he said.

Analysing the transcripts of all debates, PRS found that very few MPs even tried to initiate policies or programmes to address their constituencies’ issues, Ramesh said.“Three MPs did not ask a single question in five years, and five MPs did not participate in a single debate. While most MPs were criticised for neglecting the state, seven MPs only focused on the RSS-BJP’s unconstitutional agendas in their constituencies,” he alleged.

“Perhaps the most damning finding was that 14 of the 28 were directly or indirectly involved in abetting communal violence in their localities. Will PM Modi apologise for foisting these ineffectual MPs on the people of Karnataka? Or was this his design all along to elect non-performing BJP MPs so that he can ignore the voice of Karnataka?” he said.

Ramesh also said that it has been more than seven months since Karnataka govt sought more than Rs 18,000 crore of relief from the Centre as per disaster relief rules.