Highlights of Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge’s address in a public rally at
Afzalpur, Karnataka | May 5th 2023
•Please check farmers income must have doubled, Modiji won’t tell a lie: Kharge
•Rich people are robbing this country and Modiji has allowed it.
•BJP preaches that they follow Basavanna, but they practice completely opposite to what
Basavanna taught.
•BJP has created tremendous inequality, 22 Cr people are jobless and price rise is sky
high. People of Karnataka shall give them a befitting reply in this election.
Though there were many aspirants to contest the election from the Congress party, we decided
to give party tickets to the sitting MLAs. After that, we studied the survey reports and shortlisted
the winning candidates, and finally announced 85 candidates from the Congress party to
contest from various constituencies in the 2023 polls of Karnataka. As the survey assured the
victory of Shri M Y Patil, we confirmed his candidature in the polls. Our priority is to bring
Congress to power and remove the 40% of commission State government.
It is a battle, and we need to fight strongly for victory. We may win, lose, or die in this battle.
During the freedom struggle, Gandhiji said `Do or die’. In the same way, this struggle is
inevitable to save the Democracy and Constitution of the country. To succeed we should toil
without taking rest.
When Smt. Sonia Gandhi asked me to assume responsibility as an opposition party leader, I
felt it would be difficult for me as I am a South Indian. Hindi is a dominating language in North
India and they call all South Indians `Madrasi’. If I become Leader of Opposition, then they will
criticize saying उत्तर भारत मेंसब ह िं दी जाननेवाले ैं, येगलत ो गया। Knowing this, I politely
declined the proposal. But Sonia Gandhi ji was firm in her decision, and she made me the
Leader of Opposition.
I worked hard, faced many struggles, and slowly I made my place. My experience helped me. I
am someone who is familiar with the distress of Farmers, Dalit atrocities, issues of STs, SCs
and OBCs.
RSS and BJP people are trained to oppose us. I accepted their challenge and faced their attacks
on me. Then they slowly became silent and started to say खरगेजी अच्छे ैं। It is an honour to
South India, Karnataka, and Kalaburagi, that your son of the soil was elevated to this position. It
happened because of the blessings of the people of Kalaburagi. You have always showered
your blessings on me.
This 40% commission State government has not taken up any development works. Though we
brought the approval for the National Highways, they did not even initiate the project. Solapur –
Afzalpur- Kalaburagi – Bengaluru highway was halted near Kalaburagi.
Nitin Gadkari ji is a good friend of mine, but he stopped working in my region. We should not
trust people if they speak well. The real face of a friend comes out during the distress. If the
government helps us during our difficulties, we can say it is a good government. Our
government was not prepared to extend the help needed by people during the pandemic.
Similarly they failed to help the farmers during the distress.
Modiji assured that he will double the income of farmers. Please check it must have doubled,
Modiji won’t tell a lie. (People burst out laughing, saying a loud now) You (public) are saying no!
But Modiji says he has doubled the income of farmers. Then who is the liar whether it is you
(public) or Modiji? So only elect people who speak the truth.
We have fulfilled what we had assured the public. When Siddaramaiah ji was a Chief Minister, I,
Sonia Gandhiji, and Rahul Gandhiji supported the people of Karnataka. We provided Central
University, and ESI hospitals and introduced several `Bhagya’ in the State. But the present
government is reduced the funds for those `Bhagya’ introduced by us to the poor and supported
the rich. Poor is becoming too poor and rich people are becoming even richer in this country.
The 1% rich have 41% wealth in this country whereas the 3% poor own 50% of the wealth. I
have taken these facts from a reliable study. The income of people and farmers have been
decreased. This is how Modi Government works!
Today 22 crore people are jobless, due to lack of employment opportunities, closure of
factories, and job losses. Banks have been cheated of at least Rs 5, 65,000 crores of public
money by frauds. If the poor won’t pay Rs 10,000 then the bank shall seize his house, tractor,
agricultural land everything. But no action against fraud. येजुमलेन ीं ै, मैंसच बोल र ा हूँ । These
facts and figures are given by Modi Government in the Parliament.
They don’t show interest to waive the loans of farmers, but they write off Rs 11 lakh crore loans
of rich people. Your investments in LIC, and your hard-earned savings in bank accounts, and
PF but the government uses it to give loans to its rich friends.
We allocated Rs 1,50,000 crores to MGNREGA but the present government reduced it to
60,000 crores. It shows BJP does not care for the poor and they only support people like Adani.
Modi ji sells public sector properties to Adani. When Adani says he doesn’t have money, he is
given loans from our public sector banks. Both property and money belong to the public only.
Rich people are robbing this country and Modiji has allowed it. When I said these words in the
Parliament, they expunged half my speech and the complete speech of Rahul Gandhi ji.
