Karnataka elections 2023: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday responded to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's 'poisonous snake' remark on him saying that a snake is the charm of Lord Shiva's neck and for him, the people of the country are like Lord Shiva, therefore, he accepts being a snake who stays with them.
"The opposition is comparing me with a snake... and asking people to vote for them... but a snake is the charm of Lord Shiva's neck... and for me, the people of the country are as equal to Lord Ishwar and Lord Shiva, therefore, I accept being the snake in the neck of the people who are equal to Lords.... and I know this that the holy land of Karnataka... the people here will strongly respond to Congress through their vote...," PM Modi said.
Further hitting out at the Oppn, PM Modi said, "Both Congress and JD(S) are "dynastic parties" and encourage corruption... they see opportunity in instability."
"Congress and JD(S) are responsible for the instability in Karnataka... for a very long time, Karnataka has seen the "drama" of unstable government," PM Modi said.
"Both are different just to show else they are the same. They both are 'dynasty' parties. Karnataka is a growth engine in India and an 'unstable govt' is not good for it. An unstable government doesn't do any development work, they only loot the public. Congress and JDS only promote corruption. Karnataka has seen their downside," the Prime Minister said.
"When there are Congress-JDS governments, only a few special families flourish, but for the BJP, each and every family in this country is the BJP's own family," he added.
"Congress is the second name of betrayal. They have betrayed the farmers of the state and the country. JDS calls itself the 'kingmaker' in Karnataka and every vote to JDS adds to the vote of Congress. Congress neglected the poor. But BJP is working for the people, farmers, and poor of the state. The farmers are getting double benefits from the double-engine govt," he said.
"For Congress and JDS, Karnataka is just an ATM, while for BJP, Karnataka is the most important growth engine of the country's development... the immense faith of beneficiaries of the BJP government is going to outweigh all the fake guarantees of the Shahi Parivar (royal family)," the Prime Minister added.
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