Former minister B K Chandrasekhar brushed aside the analysis of a few Congress leaders that negative publicity against the Congress by the BJP resulted in the debacle in the Assembly polls held in May.
Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, he said, the Congress leaders have failed in introspecting that inadequate publicity of the achievements of the Congress government resulted in the debacle. “The achievements of the Congress like 8 kg free rice to each person of BPL families, provision of healthcare, various benefits to women, earmarking of Rs 25,000 crore for the welfare of SC and ST communities, were enough for the people to vote for the Congress. There was no need for the Congress to seek the votes of the people,” he said.
Chandrasekhar said the magic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech snatched the votes of the youth.
“Modi’s speech, a blend of Odissi and Bharatanatyam, mesmerised the people of Karnataka to vote for the BJP candidates in large numbers in the Assembly polls,” he said.
However, he said, the Modi magic is gradually fading out. “Since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the people are not voting for the BJP, but for Modi. The assumption that the people have chosen BJP by defeating the Congress is not true. The 38.3 lakh first-time voters cast their votes in favour of Modi. But, now the youth are disillusioned. Now, they have realised that Modi’s speeches are a bundle of false assurances,” he said. “Modi has no trust in the democratic spirit of the nation. He has not fulfilled the assurance of creating jobs for the youth. The flawed implementation of GST caused confusion. Demonetisation of higher denomination currency notes was a disaster. Modi could not keep his promise of bringing black money stacked away in foreign nations. So, people have lost faith in Modi,” said Chandrasekhar.
“The Modi government has not prioritised agriculture. If the government really has any concern for farmers, let it organise a two-day national seminar on agriculture. Let it discuss the problems of the farmers, drought and flood on the floor of the Parliament. Let it elicit the opinion of experts and act on their advice,” he said.
He said the agenda of the BJP is to change the Constitution.
“BJP leader Murali Manohar Joshi himself expressed that it is their intention to change the Constitution with senior journalists in Delhi. He had said that Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde does not know to accomplish the task silently,” he said.
“The Constitution has already been burnt in Jantar Mantar. Progressive thinkers across the nation have been murdered. The agenda of the BJP is to change the Constitution and the people should understand this,” he said.