Bengaluru: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday brought up the Adani scam as he stated that "Adani is a symbol of corruption," while addressing the 'Jai Bharat' rally in Karnataka's Kolar where he had made the infamous 'Modi surname' remark that led to his disqualification as an MP. Further expressing confidence that the Congress would come to power in Karnataka, where Assembly elections are set to take place on May 10, Gandhi said the first Cabinet meeting after the party formed the government would approve its key poll promises, paving the way for their implementation.
He asked the Congress leaders in Karnataka to send a message all over the country that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi can give thousands of crores to Adani, we can give money to the poor and women. "If you wholeheartedly help Adani, we (Congress) will wholeheartedly help poor, unemployed youth and women. You (PM Modi) do your work, we will do our work," Gandhi said.
"I am very glad the Congress party is fighting Karnataka Assembly elections unitedly," he said, adding that his party would ensure that Karnataka is freed from the clutches of the '40 per cent-commission government' of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as he attacked the Basavaraj Bommai government in Karnataka over corruption issues.
Gandhi alleged that the contractors' association had written a letter on the issue of "40 percent commission" to the Prime Minister but he remained silent on it, which was a "confession" that there indeed was corruption.
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Gandhi reached poll-bound Karnataka's Kolar earlier in the day, accompanied by several congress leaders including AICC President Mallikarjuna Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, and KPCC President D K Shivakumar for the rally titled 'Jai Bharat'. Party leaders had estimated more than one lakh people to join the rally, which was first scheduled on April 5, 9, and was finally deferred to April 16.
Meanwhile, asserting that "winds of change" are blowing in Karnataka, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Sunday claimed that his party will win at least 130 seats in the upcoming assembly polls and the gateway to South India for the BJP will be "totally closed". He also asserted that Karnataka has always played a crucial role in the formation of the government at the Centre and a victory in the upcoming assembly polls there will pave the way for the formation of a Congress-led government in 2024.
With less than a month to go for Karnataka Assembly polls, the Congress on Saturday released its third list of 43 candidates. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah was not named from the Kolar constituency, with the grand old party, instead, fielding Kothur G Manjunath.
The Congress declared 124 candidates in its first list and another 42 in the second list for the May 10 elections. The counting of votes for the Karnataka Assembly will take place on May 13.
Rahul, who has alleged that his sentencing and disqualification was part of a BJP’s agenda to target him, was convicted by a Surat court with two years imprisonment over his remark on Modi's surname in 2019, wherein he had asked 'why all thieves have Modi surname'. The conviction led to his automatic disqualification as an MP.
