Karnataka Assembly Elections: Sacrifice comfort, sleep to bring BJP to power, Shah tells party workers

Addressing BJP's booth level presidents and Shakti" Kendra chiefs at Devanahalli near here, Shah said, "We have won elections in 14 states since 2014. Now the elections are due in the 15th state of Karnataka."

BJP President Amit Shah with B S Yeddyurappa. Photo: PTI (File)

Bengaluru:  BJP president Amit Shah today reminded his party booth level workers that Karnataka assembly polls are not "an ordinary" election and asked them to sacrifice their comfort and sleep till state unit chief B S Yeddyurappa is sworn in as chief minister.

Addressed the convention of Shakthi Kendra Pramukhs of 15 assembly constituencies in Devanahalli, Bengaluru (Karnataka). pic.twitter.com/sWuFXWcba6

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 19, 2018

Addressing BJP's booth level presidents and Shakti" Kendra chiefs at Devanahalli near here, Shah said, "We have won elections in 14 states since 2014. Now the elections are due in the 15th state of Karnataka." "Any guess what will happen?," he asked and the workers responded, shouting "BJP (will win)." "It's not an ordinary election. It is our grand entry in South India," Shah said. "I want to appeal to all the booth level workers and Shakti Kendra chiefs present inside this meeting hall that you have to sacrifice your comfort and sleep till the time Yeddyurappa swears in as chief minister on May 15," Shah said. Assembly polls are scheduled for May 12 and counting of votes will be taken up on May 15. He said ever since Narendra Modi took over as prime minister in 2014, BJP has won in 14 states including Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana, Gujarat,"Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and"Assam. The BJP president said changing the regime has become essential as Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah had "ruined" Bengaluru that was one of the highest revenue generating cities of the country. "Bengaluru"s development is stuck in the chaotic" traffic jam. None of the development works take off or get" completed without paying commission," he said. The Modi government had provided Rs three lakh crore to the state which was just Rs 88,000 crore during Manmohan Singh government, he said. The additional Rs 2.12 lakh crore straightaway became "prey to the prevailing corruption in Karnataka," Shah said.  As many as 24 BJP/RSS workers have lost their lives in the state, he said,. "These people (in the government) think that they will"get away with the murder of our workers," he said. "They should know that we will drag them out even if they take refuge in netherworld"once our government comes to power in Karnataka and put them behind the bars," Shah said. He said while Modi was working towards ease of living, Siddaramaiah transformed the state into "ease of murdering people." Highlighting the importance of booth level workers and Shakti Kendra chiefs, Shah said they are those who actually lead the party to victory. "While other parties are leader based party," BJP is a cadre based party. That's the reason that we rose from two seats to 329 seats, from 10 members to 11 crore members," Shah said. He said there was a time when the party celebrated if its candidates could save their deposits. "Today we have 1,780 MLAs," Shah" said. He became nostalgic remembering his days as booth" level president in 1982. "It can happen only in BJP that a booth level member" becomes the national president," Shah said. He was addressing booth level presidents and Shakti Kendra chiefs of 15 constituencies in three districts of Kolar, Chikkaballapura and Bengaluru Rural.