Rahul invokes Indira to seek Karnataka people’s ‘blessing’ for polls

Chikmagalur (Karnataka) : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday invoked his grandmother Indira Gandhi as he sought people’s blessings for his party’s victory in the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections.

“You stood by my grandmother during her toughest days (1977-79) and helped her achieve a historic win in the Lok Sabha by-election from here in 1978,” said Gandhi at a public rally in the coffee-growing district.

Expressing confidence that the ruling party would win the polls because of unity and hard work of its cadres, Gandhi requested the people to bless him with their support as they did to his grandmother.

Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of telling “lies”, he said Modi was talking about corruption while sharing stage with party members who were jailed on graft charges.

Modi doesn’t see corruption in the sudden rise in turnover of a company owned by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah, he said.

The Prime Minister was also not addressing corruption cases of state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa and diamond jeweller Nirav Modi, said Gandhi his 30-minute address delivered in Hindi and translated into Kannada by a party leader.

“People do not want to listen to lies or hate speeches. They want to listen to truth and issues that concern them.

“Four years of Modi’s rule has gone by and he has only one year left. He is going to lose the next (Lok Sabha) elections in 2019 with this kind of rule.”

The 47-year-old party chief was on a two-day visit across the coastal districts of the state since Tuesday. This was his third visit to the state since February.

Earlier in the day, he visited Sringeri Mutt and interacted with the students of “Veda Pathashala”.

On Tuesday, Gandhi held public meetings in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada and interacted with the fishing communities of the coastal region and visited popular temples, dargahs and churches.

IANS