Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily on Sunday said he has been advising party leaders and workers not to spontaneously react to provocative statements and actions by other political party leaders, particularly, the Bharatiya Janata Party so as to avert any unhealthy debates or actions.
“While the National Democratic Alliance intends to push the country into the violence regime, Congress was seriously focusing on constructive action to restore normalcy,” he told reporters here. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was one such initiative for national unity at a time when the country was at the brink of disintegration, Mr. Moily said. The Yatra was also aimed at averting any plausible massive unrest by people frustrated with the deteriorating economic and social condition, he said.
Mr. Moily charged BJP with derailing all developmental works at the national as well as State levels; virtually the situation is at a standstill. “All the mega projects out of which citizens were deriving benefits, be it Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd., or Bengaluru International Airport, Mangaluru International Airport, mega irrigation projects and the like, were all commissioned by the Congress government. On the other hand, the BJP has failed to complete the Upper Krishna Project despite it being cleared by the Water Tribunal and the Supreme Court,” he said.
Being a member of Congress’ Central Election Committee, Mr. Moily said he has submitted a detailed roadmap to the party leaders to win the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections two months ago. A similar roadmap was submitted to the State Congress leaders for the ensuing Assembly elections too. People should elect Congress back to power for development, the leader said.
Responding to Home Minister Amit Shah’s reported statement that Congress and JD(S) were the two faces of the same coin, Mr. Moily said Congress need not learn anything from a person whose entry into his own State was banned for two and a half years. On Mr. Shah’s reported statement of merging KMF and Amul, Mr. Moily said perhaps the Home Minister did not read the Constitution and the federal structure enshrined in it. Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the cooperative system as as federal structure for the overall development of the country, he said.
On the State government assuring to provide reservation to many communities, Mr. Moily said the BJP government has failed to follow the established procedure of acting on the recommendations of the Permanent Backward Classes Commission to add or delete communities from the reservation list.
Dakshina Kannada District Congress president K. Harish Kumar, former MLC Ivan D’Souza, former MLA T. Shakuntala Shetty and others were present.
Published - January 01, 2023 10:50 pm IST
