Union Home Minister Amit Shah took part in a roadshow in Karnataka's Kundgol on Saturday as part of the Karnataka BJP's 'Vijaya Sankalp Abhiyan' in the run-up to the state's Assembly elections in May. He sought support for the BJP to form a government with a full majority in Karnataka, accusing the opposition Congress and JD(S) of dynasty politics and corruption.
Shah rode in a specially decorated open vehicle for over a kilometre from Basavanna Devara Matha to Gali Mariyamma temple in Kundgol, amid loud cheers and the waving of BJP flags by a large crowd of party supporters and workers.
Along the roadshow, Shah was accompanied by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, Arun Singh, the party's General Secretary in-charge, state President Nalin Kumar Kateel, and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar.
As the sound of drums and chants of "Modi Modi" and "Bharat Mata ki Jai" reverberated along the stretch, people gathered and showered flower petals on the vehicle carrying the leaders at various points.
At the end of the roadshow, Shah delivered a brief address to the crowd, accusing the opposition Congress and JD(S) of dynasty politics and corruption and urging them to vote for the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections.
"Congress only does aarti of Gandhi family, and in JD(S) grandfather, son, grandson, their wives, grandson's son everyone wants to contest polls...youths should tell, do they have a place in that party?" he said, listing various "pro-people" programmes of the BJP government. He claimed that youth has a place only in the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, and that the BJP government under Modi has taken the country's pride to new heights on a global scale, according to the news agency PTI.
"Modi has worked for the security of the country, Modi has abrogated Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, along with the construction of Ram Mandi in Ayodhya," Shah said, urging people to vote for the BJP in the upcoming elections, to support it in forming a government with a full majority, and to defeat the "parivarwadis" (dynasts) and corrupt, PTI reported.
The BJP's roadshow was aimed at gaining public support for the party in Kundgol and neighbouring Assembly constituencies in the Dharwad district, according to PTI, citing party sources.
Kusumavati Channabasappa Shivalli of the Congress Party currently represents the Kundgol Assembly constituency. She won the seat in 2019 by-elections after it became vacant following the death of her husband, then-sitting MLA C S Shivalli.
Shivalli was elected to the Assembly in both the 2013 and 2018 elections.
(With Inputs From PTI)