Mangaluru: Former minister and senior Congress leader Ramanath Rai held Bharatiya Janata Party’s false propaganda about Congress responsible for winning fewer seats in the Assembly elections.
Speaking to the media at the Congress office here on June 14, Rai said that Congress became the victim of the vicious false propaganda that undermined the good work done by the district ministers and the state government. “We reached out to the people with development and people-friendly schemes. However, we lost due to the false propaganda of the BJP”, he claimed.
In the recent elections to the state Assembly, Ramanath Rai suffered a humiliating defeat against Rajesh Naik of the BJP. The veteran Congress leader attributed this loss to the spread of false rumours about him and his work. “BJP members involved themselves in spreading false rumours about the issue of withdrawal of grants for the students of Kalladka and Punacha schools. They even submitted a letter rejecting the mid-day meal programme provided by the government. However, during the end of May, both schools approached the department seeking to be included in the free lunch programme from the new academic year”, he alleged.
Rai also questioned the propriety of linking him to the murder of Sharath Madiwala at B C Road when it was known that SDPI activists were involved in it. “Five murders took place in my constituency. Except for Sharath Madiwala, rest of the accused in these cases belonged to Sangh Parivar”, he accused.
Rai also distanced himself from Surendra Bantwal who had brandished swords at Baddakatte on June 11. While denying the claims of him having any links to Surendra, Rai further alleged that Bhuvith Shetty who was involved in the same incident was “the right hand” of BJP MLA Rajesh Naik.
He also criticised the Narendra Modi-led union government for failing to fulfill the many promises made during 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He said that the country was “witnessing severe economic crisis” as Modi’s government gave loan waivers to rich businessmen instead of impoverished farmers.
