As election campaign intensifies in Karnataka, both Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are leaving no stones unturned to trip each other up.
This morning it was Congress’s turn on Twitter. Rahul Gandhi tweeted a short video in an attempt to steal the thunder from the four BJP rallies that the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is addressing today in the state. The video is a stinging attack on the BJP’s choice of candidates in Karnataka.
The accompanying tweet is even more piercing calling BJP’s choice of candidates as ‘Karnataka’s Most Wanted’. It is also addressed directly to PM Modi.
“Dear Modi ji,
You talk a lot. Problem is, your actions don’t match your words. Here’s a primer on your candidate selection in Karnataka.
It plays like an episode of “Karnataka’s Most Wanted”. #AnswerMaadiModi”
Dear Modi ji,
You talk a lot. Problem is, your actions don’t match your words. Here’s a primer on your candidate selection in Karnataka.
It plays like an episode of “Karnataka’s Most Wanted”. #AnswerMaadiModi pic.twitter.com/G97AjBQUgO
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 5, 2018
The short video took a swipe at the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi for his continued silence on criminal cases that the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Yeddyurappa faces, the party tickets to the two Reddy brothers who are facing criminal investigation in illegal mining cases and six others perceived to be close to them and some other candidates facing criminal charges. In total, the video targets 11 candidates.
Campaigning earlier this week, Rahul Gandhi had chosen to speak at the venue where the blockbuster “Sholay” was shot in 1970s, just outside the state capital. At the rocky terrain of Ramanagar 60 km from Bengaluru, he had a special message for the Karnataka voters.
During the Gujarat elections, he had expanded GST, the acronym for Goods and Services Tax, to ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ naming it after one of India’s most-venerated screen villains. Gabbar was the lethal villain in the movie “Sholey” and he and his gang were shown living in the rocky terrain Gandhi visited.
Adding to the rhetoric, the Congress chief said, “The BJP is playing ‘Sholay’ in Karnataka with a ‘Gabbar Singh’ gang featuring the scam-tainted jailbirds of his party as Kalia and Samba,” he had said.
In today’s video, he has virtually ‘unmasked’ the gang.
His tweet is part of the Congress party’s strategy to build up an offensive against the BJP around the Reddy brothers. They represent a chunk of corruption allegations that mushroomed during the BJP government led by BS Yeddyurappa, who according to the video is facing 23 criminal charges.
The Reddy brothers – lawmakers and ministers during the earlier BJP government in the state – have been accused of conducting largescale illegal mining across the iron-ore-rich district of Ballari. Of the three brothers, BJP has given tickets to two while the third is campaigning for the party.