Lotus will bloom in Mandya this Lok Sabha election, says SM Krishna

Bengaluru: Emerging from his hibernation, former Chief Minister S M Krishna, who severed his decades' long association with the Congress to join the BJP some years ago,  on Saturday urged  his friends and colleagues in his former party to join the BJP and support Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had given scam-free governance for the last four- and -a- half years.

Addressing party workers and district leaders meeting here, the former External Affairs Minister, who had retreated into the background after the Assembly polls last year,  appears to be now back in the swing of things with the Lok Sabha polls approaching and  clearly hopes to try and influence the voters of his district to vote for the BJP.

"A new effort is being made in Mandya by BJP and I am optimistic that it will open its account in the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency these poll. I would like all my old colleagues in the Congress to join the BJP as their support is  vital in these LS polls," Mr Krishna said.

"Being born in this district, I want to see the lotus bloom here in the crucial Lok Sabha polls to be held in a few months. I will be involved actively in the campaign and visit all the assembly constituencies ," he added. Earlier, speaking to reporters  he said he was not aware that Ms Sumalatha Ambarish, wife of the late former minister, M H Ambarish,  was hoping to contest from Mandya. On the audio tape released by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of an alleged conversation between the state BJP chief and the son of a JDS MLA, he said Mr Yeddyurappa had already said he would retire from politics if the tape was genuine.

Full of praise for the Prime Minister,  Mr Krishna said he had brought in a revolution  in the country in 2014  and provided a clean administration. As for the last UPA government at the Centre, Mr Krishna recalled that he was part of it from 2009 to 2014 under then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

"But Mr Singh had absolutely no control over the government since everything was managed by (present Congress president) Mr Rahul Gandhi. His meddling resulted in a  number of scams like the 2G Spectrum and coal scam. Many things happened without the knowledge of Dr Singh. Mr Rahul even tore a copy of the bill opposed by the then PM,"  he said.

Ridiculing the mahaghatbandhan, Mr Krishna said some 20 "opportunistic" parties had teamed up to take on the NDA government, but had so far not decided who would head it.