Bengaluru, 20 September (H.S.): Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president B.K. Hariprasad launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, questioning his record on religious issues and accusing the Union government of selling public-sector undertakings established under successive Congress governments.

Speaking at a programme organised at Bharat Jodo Bhavan, the KPCC headquarters in Bengaluru, Hariprasad also referred to the Prime Minister's stand on triple talaq.

Why was he so concerned about triple talaq? He is not even living a married life, Hariprasad said, responding to an earlier statement on the issue.

The Congress leader alleged that Modi had failed to speak meaningfully about religious harmony despite being in office for 12 years. He said the Prime Minister regularly addressed the nation through his Mann Ki Baat radio programme but rarely discussed issues relating to religion and social unity.

We have had a great man serving as Prime Minister, and he speaks through programmes such as Mann Ki Baat. But in the past 12 years, have you ever seen him spend even 12 minutes speaking seriously about religious harmony? Hariprasad asked.

He also criticised Modi for repeatedly questioning the contribution of the Congress to India's development. Hariprasad said Karnataka had a large number of public-sector enterprises and claimed that most of them were established during Congress rule.

Congress governments created public institutions and undertakings, but the present government has sold 26 public-sector enterprises. People should ask who was responsible for selling them, he said.

Hariprasad claimed that Congress governments, from the period of Jawaharlal Nehru to P.V. Narasimha Rao, had built institutions and strengthened the country's public sector.

Recalling his tenure as the Congress in-charge of Gujarat for four-and-a-half years, Hariprasad alleged that no major public-sector undertaking had been created there. He accused the Modi government of allowing a small group of industrialists, including Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, to acquire public assets.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman