Opposition campaign is assault on guarantees and an OBC Chief Minister, says Congress

Congress in Karnataka plans counter-campaign against BJP-JD(S) allegations, supporting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah amid site distribution controversy.

While the Opposition BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) has launched a campaign against alleged irregularities in the distribution of sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), the ruling Congress in Karnataka is now planning a counter-campaign to project it as an assault on the five guarantees being implemented in the State to benefit four crore people and on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who hails from a backward class (OBC).

The party on Friday reiterated that it stands unitedly behind the embattled Chief Minister, whose wife is accused of being a beneficiary in the site allotment. The Congress said it has kept its options of fighting the issue through the courts and also by taking it to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Reposing faith in courts and the law of the land, the Chief Minister in a brief interaction with the media in Delhi profusely thanked all the leaders in the Congress high command for their support. He reiterated that the decision of the Governor to give sanction for prosecution against him in the MUDA case was “unconstitutional and illegal”.

The Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar met Congress president M. Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, and AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala. A host of senior Ministers, who are camping in Delhi, also met the party’s top brass to discuss the unfolding political developments.

“This is not an attempt to dislodge or destabilise the Congress government of Karnataka. In truth, it is a sinister design to attack the five Congress guarantees by which we are transferring over ₹53,000 crore every year directly and transparently to the bank accounts of over four crore Kannadigas. The BJP for over one year has been attacking the Congress guarantees as they are scared of them. They somehow want them to be stopped. This is the attack on the people of Karnataka by the Union government,” Mr. Surjewala told presspersons after the high-level meeting.

He also said, “This is an assault on a backward classes Chief Minister who is now the senior-most Chief Minister in the country. This is revenge-seeking by the BJP and the JD(S) on the people of Karnataka. We will face every assault by the Union government. We have resolved that every worker and legislator will fight to protect the Congress guarantees. We stand united in this fight; we stand with our Chief Minister. We will take legal remedy, and we have full faith in our system of judiciary. The party will also take this battle to the court of the people. All options are open, including going to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.”

The Governor’s decision is constitutionally wrong and legally untenable, which will be fought in the High Court and if necessary the higher court too, he said. “Frustrated by a decimating defeat, the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, and the entire BJP leadership are hiding behind a puppet Governor,” Mr. Surjewala added.