K'taka needs 'Vitamin-P', P for Cong's 'performance': Jairam Ramesh

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said that while the BJP was seeking votes in the Karnataka Assembly polls in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi the Congress had adopted the PMs vocal for local slogan and was raising issues of the people of the stateIn an interview with PTI Ramesh said Karnataka after four years of the BJP rule needs VitaminP in which the P stands for performance of the Congress and not polarisation of the BJPUsing armed forces terminology Ramesh said the Congress is not worried about the carpet bombing campaign strategy of Prime Minister Modi and other senior BJP leaders as it has enough antiaircraft guns to deal with itThe more the carpet bombing campaign the BJP indulges in the more clearly it indicates its despair and desperation the Congress general secretary incharge communications saidRamesh who is a star campaigner for the party said the Karnataka polls were about the BJPs threats versus Congress governance guaranteesAlso Read Brazenly intimidatory statement Jairam Ramesh slams Amit Shahs remarks on Karnataka pollsHe claimed that the Congress would get a clear majority that would render Operation Lotus totally unnecessaryOperation Lotus is the term used by opposition parties to describe what they call poaching of MLAs by the BJP to topple state governmentsAsked about reports of former chief minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar looking to outdo each other for the post of CM Ramesh said This time around the dissidence in the Congress is at a minimum There are only a few rebel independent candidates and many of them are withdrawing In any case the dissidence in the Congress is nothing as compared with the dissidence in the BJP which has lost its former chief minister deputy CM members of the national executive and many other national state and local level leaders Ramesh saidHe said five top Congress leaders party chief Mallikarjun Kharge Rahul Gandhi Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar would probably cover the 224 constituencies among them during the campaignSo I think we are presenting a united front and this I think is the impact of the Bharat Jodo Yatra Some people criticize the Bharat Jodo Yatra that it would not pay electoral dividends but I think the yatra is giving electoral dividends as it gave a sense of solidarity and a sense of purpose to the Congress he told PTI over the phone from Karnataka where he is on the campaign trailToday the story of Karnataka politics is the dissidence and disunity in the BJP not in the Congress he stressedRight now everybody is focused on getting the Congress back to power We are nor focussing on individuals This is not a beauty contest for individuals this is a choice between political parties a choice between competing ideologies a choice between competing visions for Karnatakas future Ramesh saidNoting that the Karnataka electorate is very wise and knows whom to vote at which level the Congress leader pointed out that it was not a vote to elect the prime minister but a vote to install a government in the stateI think we have taken the PMs slogan more seriously than he has himself vocal for local Ramesh saidHe said this time the Congress campaign has been very strategic and focussed on vocal for localThis is not a national election it is an assembly election and I think the BJP has tried to make the prime minister the issue They are asking for votes in the name of Narendra Modi What we have been saying is that you are electing MLAs you are electing the party which will appoint a CM This is for an engine in Bengaluru not an engine in Delhi Ramesh assertedThis whole double engine argument of the BJP is bogus particularly in Karnataka because 94 per cent of revenues generated for the state are its own or its share of central taxes which is constitutionally mandated he said adding that this is not a vote for a double engineThe BJPs double engine is a bogus one it is an engine of garam hawa of economic growth creating the illusion of economic growth on one hand and the other engine of social polarization and divisive politics The Congress is the only party that internalizes the double engine the double engine of economic growth that is sustainable and equitable on the one hand and the other engine of social harmony he saidSo the Congress is the real double engine Ramesh stressedOn the number of seats the Congress was likely to get Ramesh said he did not wish to give a number but was confident of a clear majority that would render Operation Lotus totally unnecessaryIn Chikkamagaluru district where I am campaigning we have only one assembly seat but this time we are headed to get three or four out of a total of five seats Ramesh saidHe claimed that there is a very strong current in favour of the Congress and a widespread sentiment for changeI dont agree with the assessment that its going to be a hung verdict I think it is going to be a clear majority for the Congress I think the type of campaigning the BJP is doing is just about polarization and harking back to divisive issues with which the people are fed up You cant do this over and over again he addedOn Kharges poisonous snake remark Ramesh said the party chief has clarified that remark as well as the context in which it was madeBut what Mr Basangouda Patil Yatnal said about former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was simply unacceptable What do you make of the Union home minister Amit Shah coming and telling people that if you vote for the Congress you will have communal riots What do you make of the BJP chief coming and saying that if you vote for the Congress the blessings of Mr Modi are not going to be there he saidThe people who have dragged the campaign down to this level are Home Minister Shah Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the prime minister himself he allegedVoting will take place in the state on May 10 and the results will be out on May 13This story has been sourced from a third 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