Congress bankrupt, dependent on BJP defectors: Amit Shah

Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the Congress is bankrupt and fighting with the support of BJP defectors.

Without naming former BJP leader Jagadish Shettar, the senior BJP leader mocked the Congress for being confident about its chances in the upcoming elections on the basis of winning over the Lingayat leader.

"They (Congress) think they are at an advantage just because some of our leaders left. They could not be more wrong," he said. The Congress, he added, had always insulted Lingayats. "They only had two Lingayat chief ministers, both of whom were unceremoniously dumped," he said, referring to former Congress CMs Nijalingappa and Veerendra Patil.


Shettar left BJP and joined Congress last week after he was denied a ticket. He will be contesting the assembly elections from his home turf of Hubli-Dharwad Central. The Congress has been cornering the BJP with allegations of the party being anti-Lingayat. Shah defended his party, saying it was the Congress who got together with the JDS to oust Lingayat CM Yediyurappa in 2018. "JDS fights as a separate party against the Congress, but we all know they will join them for power after polls," he added.

The home minister criticised the internal rivalry in the Congress, saying two major leaders are fighting among themselves for the post of CM - opposition leader Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar. "Why are they fighting? They will both lose. The CM post will go to the BJP," he said.

Shah praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's achievements at the national level, saying he rid the country of Article 370 and saved all from the Covid pandemic. Karnataka's security, he added, was conditional to the double engine winning in the state. "We banned the Popular Front of India. The Congress was lenient with its leaders and they will bring it back," he said.

Shah attended a rally in Vijayapura and a roadshow in Yadgir later in the day. He defended the BJP against the Congress' 40% commission charge in the roadshow, saying if the party had any proof, they would take the matter to the courts. "Congress is all about appeasement, nepotism, communal riots and corruption," he said in Bagalkot. The southern state goes to polls on May 10 and the BJP has, in its words, carpet-bombed all the 224 constituencies by having its major leaders hold rallies to increase its chances of winning.