Haryana polls: Kharge targets PM Modi, says promises made by BJP never fulfilled
Chandigarh (PTI): Launching a scathing attack on the BJP for failing to fulfil the promises made to people, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an expert in telling lies.
"It is Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri's birth anniversaries today. Mahatma Gandhi taught us truth and non-violence. I don't want to say this, but those in power how much truth and how much lies they speak," said Kharge addressing a poll rally at Badhra in Charkhi Dadri.
"Modi ji toh bharosa todne walo ka bhi sardar hai (Modi is the leader of those who break trust.) His numerous lies, promises, you know about it," he added in the presence of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik.
Kharge said Prime Minister Modi made so many promises during the past ten years "that there is no limit" to it.
"Before polls, he said after he is elected, he will put Rs 15 lakh in everyone's pocket," he said.
The person, who is the prime minister for ten years, can he speak a lie. Did former prime ministers Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi say such thing, no one did, he said.
"He (PM Modi) said the Congress people had stashed their black money in foreign shores and he (Modi) will bring it back and put Rs 15 lakh in everyone's pocket," he added.
Kharge said Prime Minister Modi "promised 2 crore jobs to youth each year".
"Where did those 20 crore jobs go which they had to give in ten years?" he asked.
The Congress president said the BJP is saying now during the polls in Haryana that they will give five lakh jobs, whereas they did not fill the over 1.60 lakh vacant posts.
Those in power are speaking such lies, Kharge said.
"Manohar Lal Khattar was the chief minister for nine-and-a-half years, but he was changed. He was changed because that engine failed. Had their work been proper, had they kept their promises, what was the need to change. The fact that they changed him means they have not been able to fulfill the promises they made to people," he added.
The Congress president said the people still remember the works done during Bhupinder Singh Hooda's time, adding his party does what it says.
"That is why I keep saying this repeatedly that BJP is 'jhoothon ki sardar' and Modi is expert in telling lies. He is not afraid," he alleged.
Kharge said the Congress leaders, who became the prime ministers always fought for their country.
What was the slogan given by Lal Bahadur Shastri, it was "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan", he said.
"They dont know about jawans, nor kisans, they only know the RSS' agenda. What else they know. No one is farmer in the RSS or BJP. This is why they don't understand the pain of the farmers," he said.
Haryana goes to polls on October 5 and the results will be declared on October 8.
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Post poll TN alliances divided in supporting TVK
Chennai (PTI): In a changed political atmosphere in Tamil Nadu with no single political party having a simple majority to form the government post the Assembly election, opinion is divided among the allies led by the Dravidian majors in extending external support to Vijay-led TVK in government formation.
Both the DMK and AIADMK are at unease as the Congress and also a section in the AIADMK express willingness to extend external support to Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagtam in forming the government.
Post poll, the TVK's political prospects appear to impact alliances led by both the Dravidian majors in a different manner, triggering a speculation of a split.
Leema Rose Martin, who won from Lalgudi on an AIADMK ticket, has stated that talks were underway on extending support to the TVK. Her son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna, who won from Villivakkam is TVK's general secretary.
On May 5, former AIADMK minister O S Manian, emerging from his meeting with party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, stated that AIADMK would not support TVK in forming the government.
The AIADMK, which finished third in the elections with 47 seats has cancelled its meeting of MLAs designate on Wednesday amidst a difference in extending external support to the TVK, which won 108 seats, including two seats by its founder Vijay.
As Vijay is gearing up for his swearing-in on May 7, the police have tightened security at his residence here. The party has lodged its MLA-elect at a resort in Mamallapuram and has simultaneously engaged in talks with the Congress and AIADMK, a source said.
The DMK that won 59 seats on its own, has convened a meeting of its newly elected legislators on May 7 evening and the party is likely to elect the youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin, who won from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni as its legislature party leader.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal admitted that TVK chief Vijay requested the Congress for support to form the government.
"The INC is clear that the mandate in Tamil Nadu is for a secular government, committed to protecting the Constitution in letter and spirit. The INC is determined not to allow the BJP and its proxies to run the government of Tamil Nadu in any manner. Thiru Vijay has also spoken about drawing inspiration from Perunthalaivar Kamaraj," he said.
Accordingly, the Congress leadership has directed the TNCC to take a final decision on Vijay’s request, keeping in view the sentiments of the state as reflected in the electoral verdict, Venugopal said in a statement.
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai slammed the Congress decision and said the move to ally with TVK, pledging the support of its five MLAs to the party, was tantamount to "backstabbing the DMK and the people of Tamil Nadu."
"They have betrayed the mandate given by the people. Even before the ink on the returning officer’s signature on the victory certificate has dried, they have chosen to go ahead with this alliance," he told PTI.
The most important question was who took this "foolhardy decision, and how is it going to backfire on the Congress?" he asked.
"I don’t think they had any serious deliberation on this. The larger issue is their opposition to the BJP, which is their ideological enemy. We have supported the Congress throughout. It was our leader M K Stalin, who named Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate when the BJP and RSS were criticising him. And now, within a day, they say they are supporting TVK. This is not the mandate of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Saravanan said.
The Congress' exit from its long-standing alliance with the DMK will be a significant moment in the political scenario of the state, commentator and political analyst Sumanth Raman said.
The Congress may be betting on the TVK as a long-term partner option, but that comes with risks, as the TVK is as yet an unknown quantity, he said.
"For the DMK, if the TVK+Congress becomes the choice of the minorities as it well could, it is an existential threat. It was the minority vote that gave the DMK alliance a 12%-15% cushion in the polls. If that goes, their chances of winning drops dramatically," Raman said on 'X.'
The Congress won 5 seats. However, DMK's other allies, the IUML, VCK, CPI and CPI (M) and DMDK have categorically stated that they would not support TVK.
As of now, the TVK requires the support of 11 MLAs to attain a simple majority of 118 to form the government.
The PMK, which won 4 seats and AMMK one - both allies of AIADMK - have not announced their decision yet.
"AIADMK’s real post-result drama may not be outside the party, but inside it. Whispers from the west and north suggest that a Coimbatore hand and a Villupuram voice may soon ask the question everyone is avoiding: Is it time to save the party from the leadership, before the cadre are forced to do it themselves? In politics, coups don’t begin with slogans. They begin with silence, phone calls and “review meetings,” Aspire Swaminathan, who is credited with founding the AIADMK IT wing in 2014, said on 'X.'
He has resigned from the AIADMK in 2021 and now acts an as independent political analyst.
