Karnataka is BJP's gateway to south India: Amit Shah in Bengaluru

Amit Shah. File Pic/PTI

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday stressed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) needs to strengthen its organisation in the southern part of the country and said that Karnataka is the "gateway" to the South for the party.

The Home Minister dismissed the rumours of the party allying with the JD (S) for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections slated next year and announced that the BJP will contest alone.

"Party workers from across the country tell me that we should strengthen the BJP in the South. It is the resolution of the party workers that the lotus should bloom in the South. I want to tell you that the BJP's gateway to the South is Karnataka," Shah said while addressing 'Booth President Sammelan' on the second day of his two-day visit to Karnataka.

"BJP's organisation has reached to village level in Karnataka. I can say that JDS and Congress cannot have such a big rally but the Sammelan of our workers seems so huge," he said.

Shah launched a scathing attack on Congress and said that the party is doing the leadership of the "Tukde-Tukde gang".

"Those associated with JD(S) are spreading rumours that BJP will form an alliance with them. I want to clearly tell Karnataka that BJP will fight elections alone and also form government in the state. On one side, there is a group of nationalists in the form of the BJP, on the other hand, the 'Tukde-Tukde gang' has gathered under the leadership of Congress," he said.

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"The people of Karnataka have to decide if they have to be with the patriots or with the supporters of those wanting to break the country," he added.

Stating that gaining power is a way of "corruption" for Congress, the Home Minister said that the party has been wiped off in six out of the seven Assembly elections conducted this year.

"We are moving into the field of the election with a strong background. For Congress, gaining power is a way of doing corruption but for us, it is to make people's lives better. In the recent elections in 7 states, BJP won in 5 states and Congress was wiped out from 6 states," he said.

Shah also called upon the party workers and urged them to form the government in the state with a full majority.

"I have come to invoke the workers of the state. Do not make a hung government; make the government with a two-thirds majority. I guarantee you, reach out to the people. Our governments at the Centre and state ran for nine years, Narendra Modi government has not done anything that you have to bow your head in shame," he said.

Shah's visit to Mandya and Bengaluru district of Karnataka is significant as the upcoming 2023 elections will be mainly fought in the Old Mysuru Region, where Congress and JD(S) are traditional rivals. BJP is expected to up a strong fight in the region.

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