Bengaluru, 10 May (H.S.):

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a sharp attack on Congress in Bengaluru, describing it as the “country’s biggest anti-women party.” Raising the issue of the Women’s Reservation Bill, he said Congress had deprived women of political representation for years.

Speaking at the BJP felicitation event on the HAL Airport premises in Bengaluru, the Prime Minister said that if the Women’s Reservation Bill had been implemented earlier, women’s political participation in the country would have been even stronger. He said Karnataka, too, could have seen a much larger number of women MLAs and MPs, but Congress denied women that opportunity.

Prime Minister Modi also targeted the Congress government in Karnataka. He said Congress has become a party sunk in despair and no longer has any clear ideology.

Instead of resolving public problems, the government is caught in internal conflict. “In the last three years, the people of Karnataka have seen the reality of Congress’s guarantees,” he said.

“The state government is trapped in concern over how many more days the Chief Minister will remain in office and whether other leaders will get a chance.” His remarks were seen as an indirect reference to the leadership debate in the state.

The Prime Minister said a similar situation had been seen in Rajasthan, and internal differences were now emerging within the party in Kerala as well. He expressed confidence that the BJP had won three seats in Kerala this time and would succeed in forming a government there in the future.

PM Modi said the NDA formed the government in Assam for a third consecutive term, while in Puducherry the NDA returned to power for a second time. He added that the BJP created a new record in the recent local body elections in Gujarat.

He said that even before the BJP became strong at the national level, the party had already emerged as a major political force in Karnataka.

Today, the NDA is in government in Andhra Pradesh, and the BJP has emerged as the second-largest party in Telangana. During the programme, Prime Minister Modi was honoured with a Mysuru turban and a shawl. State BJP leaders also felicitated him by presenting a 13-kilogram silver statue.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar