BJP is ‘sinking ship’ in K’taka, Cong a united force, says Surjewala

New Delhi: As campaigning for the Karnataka assembly election has started gaining momentum, the Congress on Tuesday dubbed BJP as a ‘sinking ship’ in Karnataka which even Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot save.

“The way in which the BJP leaders are leaving the party in Karnataka in hordes, as over 10 MLAs have left expressing no confidence in the Bommai government, it (BJP) is a sinking ship which is on a nosedive and neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor the corrupt BJP government can save it anymore,” Surjewala said.

Terming the incumbent BJP-led government as a “40 per cent commission” government, Congress leaders said that their party is “united” in the southern state and will ensure the corrupt government is ousted. However, on the CM face of the party, AICC general secretary Randeep Surjewala and former chief minister Siddaramaiah also dismissed reports claiming that the latter had pushed his case as a contender for the top post.

The party leader said that Siddaramaiah had never claimed that he would be the chief minister and had only stated that he is a contender and that the party high command would decide after consulting the elected MLAs on who the leader would be.

The leaders, including PCC president DK Shivakumar, were in the national capital to attend the party’s central election committee meeting, which was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. At the meeting central leadership discussed the allocation of tickets for the remaining 100 seats. Notably, Congress was the first to declare 124 candidates for the May 10 election to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly. Talking to reporters, Surjewala said that the screening committee and the Central Election Committee again met on Tuesday and discussed the probable candidates for the remaining seats and would declare some more seats by the late evening.

He stressed that the leaders were unanimous while deciding on the party candidates for the upcoming elections. “The ‘40 per cent Commission BJP Sarkara’ in Karnataka has floundered and failed. The so-called ‘double engine Sarkara’ is a double-betrayal for Karnataka. Modi government betrays Karnataka on one hand and the Bommai government brazenly loots Karnataka on the other hand,” he alleged. Claiming there is a strong anti-incumbency against BJP, Siddaramaiah said: “The state has never had such a corrupt government.” Shivakumar said their purpose is to jointly remove ‘corrupt’ BJP government from power in the state.