Jagdish Shettar Will Lose Election: Amit Shah In Karnataka

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar, who recently left the BJP, "will lose the election" and asserted that Hubballi has always voted for BJP.

Shah said there will not be a loss for BJP. Shettar joined Congress after leaving BJP and is contesting from Hubballi- Dharwad-Central, a seat he has won multiple times.

"There'll be no loss, Jagdish Shettar will himself lose election, Huballii has always voted for BJP & all workers of BJP are united," Shah said at a press conference.

He accused Congress of doing "appeasement politics".

"...Religion-based reservation is unconstitutional. Congress leaders are saying that they'll implement reservation for Muslims, but then, whose reservation will they reduce...," Shah said

He also slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his remarks.

"56 lakh farmers are getting Rs 10,000 every year under direct benefit transfers....does Rahul Gandhi think that these many farmers are of two-three families...," Shah said answering a query.

He said that the ruling BJP has worked for the all-round development of Karnataka and the Modi government gave 140 per cent more money to the state in five years in terms of tax devolution and grant-in-aid compared to the funds sent by the UPA government.

"During Manmohan Singh's government, Karnataka got about Rs 94,224 crore in terms of tax devolution and grant-in-aid between 2009 and 2014. The Modi government gave Rs 2,26,418 crore between 2014 to 2019. This is 140 per cent more than the money sent during Congress government," Shah said.

He said the BJP government in the state created 55 lakh employment opportunities in the last about four years.

Amit Shah listed various development initiatives of the BJP government including those for boosting connectivity and infrastructure and taking the state further in Information Technology.

He rejected Rahul Gandhi's allegations that the BJP government is not working for the common man.

Shah said farmers were benefitting from direct benefit transfer and expressed confidence that BJP would form the government with an absolute majority.

He alleged that PFI had been given " a free run" during the Congress rule and cases against its cadre were withdrawn. Shah said that the BJP banned the organisation and its key cadre was arrested.

BJP's election campaign is likely to get a boost with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the State on April 29.

According to Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, PM Modi will start his campaign from Belgavi. He will visit Chikodi, Kittur and Kudachi in Belagavi, one of the biggest districts of Karnataka. Prime Miniter will also visit Uttara Kannada district. The PM will also visit the poll-bound State on May 3.

Karnataka will go to polls on May 10 and the votes will be counted on May 13.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)