Hassan: Contending that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a "baagidhar" (partner) in corruption rather than a chowkidaar (a watchman) as he claimed, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said the Supreme Court's decision to review the Rafale deal would expose his “corrupt” face to the country.
“I have been saying that Mr Modi is corrupt and he will be exposed in the Rafale deal. Who is he a chowkidaar for? He is only guarding businessmen like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, the Ambani brothers and Adani,” Mr Siddaramaiah charged, addressing a joint rally of the coalition partners with Janata Dal (Secular) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda at the Gandasi hobli in Arasikere.
Maintaining that Mr Modi could not continue lying to the people of the country, Mr Siddaramaiah said that Constitutionally created bodies such as the Income Tax department, Enforcement Directorate and the Reserve Bank of India were destroyed by the Prime Minister's misuse of power.
Calling Mr Modi's government anti-people and anti-democratic, he said it left Dalits and minorities fearing for their lives. “The BJP does not believe in social justice and nor is it farmer- friendly," he claimed.
Mr Siddaramaiah also warned the people of Hassan to be cautious about the constituency's BJP candidate, A. Manju, whom he called a turncoat for betraying the Congress on the eve of the poll and joining the BJP.
In his speech, Mr Deve Gowda said although he had made up his mind not to contest the Lok Sabha poll again, he had changed his mind and filed his nomination from Tumakuru only to stop the BJP from coming back to power at the Centre.
“This was also why we decided to forge an alliance with the Congress in the state,” he added.
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