BJP says it wants to make Karnataka 'Congress mukht'

BENGALURU: Spurred by its latest success in city civic polls, BJP today said it is targeting dislodging the 'dysfunctional and corrupt' Congress government in the state ultimately to make Karnataka 'Congress mukht'.

The BJP would launch awareness programmes to expose the Congress, Party General Secretary and in charge of the organisation's state affairs, Muralidhar Rao told reporters at the end of a two-day state level leadership training workshop.

Rao said results of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) should be read "seriously" by the Siddaramaiah government, though BJP did not consider it a referendum on it.

In a hat-trick of sorts after its success in civic polls in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, BJP was voted back for a second term in the August 22 BBMP polls in a setback to the ruling Congress which had put all its might to wrest the Council in a prestigious battle.

"BJP has two targets. BJP should aim to dislodge the corrupt Congress government in the state and make it a Congress mukht Karnataka. Also, Karnataka is the lamppost for the entire south and a gateway for the party," Rao said.

Dubbing the Congress at the national level as a "force of disruption" that did not allow parliament to function and a party with a "negative agenda", Rao said Rahul Gandhi should have visited Karnataka, where farmers were committing suicide on an unprecedented scale.

"Rahul Gandhi is travelling elsewhere and giving sermons ... the Congress leadership is working elsewhere instead of setting its house in order in Karnataka," he said.

Explaining the party's training programmes at the Mandal, district and state levels, he said it aimed at grooming 15 lakh grassroot level leaders in various dimensions, including ideology, organisational structure, good governance and party policies.