Mangaluru, Feb 17:  Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar today called upon the Congress cadre to go from door to door to mobilise the party workers for the upcoming general elections.

Addressing the party cadre at the Congress Party Workers’ Convention here, he said, “This is a historical place. This is the land of Koti Channaiah, Veera Abbakka Devi and Narayana Guru. This land is known for it economic, educational, social and religious significance.”

“This region has given strong leaders such as Oscar Fernandes and Janardhana Poojary. When I was a student leader, we had to get signatures of 4-5 people to buy a bike. Janardhana Poojary was the one who introduced loan melas in the state. Thanks to the efforts of Nationalisation of banks by Indira Gandhi, loans come to your doorstep today. When I got defeated in 1985 elections, I took  Poojary to Kanakapura and organised a loan mela. I became a Gram panchayat member as a result. I became an MLA later and have remained so since then.”

“The people of this region have given ‘shakthi’ to the country and that is why Mallikarjuna Kharge and Rahul Gandhi announced Shakthi scheme here. Shakthi was the first scheme announced by our government after we came to power. It is benefiting crores of women. Dharmasthala Dharmakadikari Veerendra Hegde wrote a letter to the government to say that the number of devotees has increased significantly due to Shakthi scheme,” he said. We have delivered as promised after we came to power and thus empowered you.

He urged the party workers to go out and seek votes as we have implemented all our promises. “No other government has managed to implement schemes like this. The BJP had promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh to every account and create 2 crore jobs but they have done neither,” he said.

“My friends in Mangaluru region should not lose hope. Don’t think that you have won only two seats and will not be able to increase the tally. When Sadananda Gowda was the Chief Minister, we fielded our candidate and secured a win. The women of the region will support Congress this time as they are happy about the guarantee schemes. We are confident of winning at least 20 seats in the upcoming general elections,” he said.

“Why have the JDS and BJP joined hands now? Deve Gowda had said that he would leave the country if Modi became the Prime Minister and he has joined hands with him now. In politics what matters is the ideology, belief and principles, lets work on those principles. We need to take people from all sections of the society with us.”

“Prime Minister Modi may say he will win 370 seats but that is not possible. Rahul Gandhi is doing yatra across the country and the country is looking for new leadership. Mallikarjuna Kharge from Karnataka is sitting on the same chair which was once occupied by Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Let all of us go from village to village and mobilise the organisation. I am confident that INDIA bloc will come to power.” 

“Our government presented a historic budget yesterday. I have been in the House for the last 35 years and I haven’t seen any Opposition walk out during a Budget presentation. The people of BJP and JDS have not only insulted the democratic process but also the people of the state. Congress party will be in power for five years no matter what tricks the opposition plays.”