Karnataka polls: Modi counters Kharge's barb, says 'all abuses will be reduced to dust'

"I will work day and night, I will do more work. Friends, with your blessings all the abuses will be reduced to dust. And the Congress people jot it down the more abusses you spew, more the lotus is going to bloom," Modi said in a public rally here.

Modi also said "Congress didn't spare even the legends of the country, it abused everyone. Congress insulted Baba Saheb Ambedkar Ji, Savarkar Ji. You will be shocked to know about it. Babasaheb Ambedkar explained this in detail at a public meeting.

"The Congress has called him rakshash (demon), rashtra drohi (traitor), and dagabaaz (cheater)."

Modi said apart from hurling abuses at OBCs, the Congress has branded Lingayat community as thieves.

"In the last elections they (Congress) said 'chowkidar chor hai', later they said 'Modi chor hai', afterwards they said 'OBC chor hai'. During Karnataka elections they are calling Lingayat brothers and sisters as chors (thieves)," he said.

However, PM Modi felt honoured of the fact that he has been counted by the Congress among legends of the nation who have been targets of Congress party's abuses.

"I am honoured that I have been considered at the same pedestal as these legends. They will keep on abusing me, I will keep on devoting myself in service to the nation," he said.

Modi said Congress hates anyone who talks about the common man, who exposes their corruption, who attacks their selfish politics.

So far, Congress leaders have abused him 91 times in different ways, Modi said.

"Interestingly enough, I have received a list of the abuses, Congress has made against me. It is 91 times they have done so, till date," he said.

Had they spent their time on delivering good governance to the people instead of creating this dictionary of abuses, their condition would not have been this pathetic, he added.

PM Modi said this election is an election to make Karnataka the No.1 state in the country. He said to ensure the true development in Karnataka, continuation of the double-engine government is a pre-requisite.

He also said only a double-engine and double-power government can make Karnataka No.1.

"To ensure the true development in Karnataka, continuation of the double-government is a pre-requisite. Only such a double-engine and double-power government can make Karnataka No.1," he said.

"You all want a Karnataka where highways and expressways continue to expand, where metro facilities extend to more districts, where modern trains like 'Vande Bharat' run in more numbers, where every farm has modern irrigation systems. There should be facilities," he added.

PM Modi said the speed of development that the common man has seen in Karnataka in the last five years does not want to stop, and BJP has taken the initiative to fulfill these dreams of the people in Karnataka.

"It's only under the BJP, that Karnataka has attracted record-breaking Foreign Direct Investments," he said.

Under the Congress rule, Karnataka used to attract the annual FDI worth around Rs 30,000 crore, whereas under the BJP, this number stands at around Rs 90,000 crore, PM Modi said.

During the Congress rule, there were more than 100 such irrigation schemes which were pending for decades. he said. "In the last 9 years, we have completed more than 60 irrigation schemes lying incomplete for decades," he said.

"When we started the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, there was a Congress-JDS government in Karnataka. See how much they hate the farmers that they used to create obstacles in sending the list of beneficiary farmers to the central government. Their problem was that there was no cut in the middle, the money was going directly into the farmers' accounts," he said.

PM Modi said the promises they made to the farmers of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan have not materialized yet.

Congress had left the sugarcane farmers of this area to fend for themselves whereas BJP is solving their problems on priority, he said.

Congress and JDS hate farmers, and they never can do anything for farmers' welfare, he added.

Owing to the DBT for extending benefits of various schemes, the Congress did not send even the list of the farmers for to the central government because DBT closed their avenues of eating away the money in between the process, Modi said.

It's only after the BJP came to power that lakhs of the farmers started getting benefit under PM KIsan Yojana and other associated schemes, he said.

During the Congress government, only 400 million liters of ethanol was produced in the country, whereas in our government this production has increased to more than 4000 million liters, Modi said.

Sugarcane farmers have benefited a lot from the increase in ethanol blending in petrol, he said.

Congress never understood the problems of the poor, they never saw poverty, Modi said, adding that Congress is that party which does politics even in development, creates hurdles.

As long as the Congress government was in Karnataka, it slowed down the pace of building houses for the poor, Modi said. After the formation of the double engine government, it was decided that the poor in Karnataka would get pucca houses worth around 9 lakhs, he said.

"BJP has built about 30,000 houses in Bidar, that is, we have made 30,000 sisters of Bidar 'Lakhpati Didi'," Modi said.

Modi said BJP's development agenda resonates strongly with the people of Karnataka.