Bengaluru: In a full-scale attack on the Siddaramaiah government on city-related issues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused it of having turned Bengaluru into a "garbage city and valley of sin" from "Silicon Valley."
"Bengaluru was admired as a garden city, but Karnataka government is wanting to turn this into a garbage city. They are showing no concern for the city's needs," the Prime Minister said.
"The youth in Karnataka turned Bengaluru to a Silicon Valley, but the Congress government turned it into a valley of sin," Modi said at an election rally on the city outskirts in poll-bound Karnataka. He said the talented pool of youngsters in Karnataka made this city the computer capital, but in the last five years, the Congress government turned Bengaluru into "crime capital."
The youth with entrepreneurial tendency made Bengaluru a startup, but Congress turned it into "pothole club," Modi said. He said the Congress government wanted to build a steel bridge in Bengaluru, but in reality, it was a "steal bridge."
The government had planned a steel bridge to ease traffic congestion in the heart of the city but facing severe protests dropped the move.
Modi lauded the efforts of BJP workers and citizens whose resistance, he said, forced Congress to drop the project.
The Prime Minister said the party was working towards promoting "ease of doing business, "but Congress is ensuring ease of doing murder" in Karnataka.
Modi was apparently referring to a spate of killings of BJP, RSS and Hindu activists, which the saffron party has blamed on the "Jehadi forces", accusing the Siddaramaiah government of being soft towards them.
PM Modi also said Bengaluru was earlier a city of lakes, but Congress transformed it into a "city of burning lakes."
Bellandur lake, the city's largest body water replete with sewage, chemical effluents and construction debris, had burned for hours in February this year, causing anxiety to residents nearby and catching national attention.
Modi said Congress was trying to fool the people of Karnataka with its manifesto. They had promised, in 2013, to build one super speciality hospital in every district, but in 2018, this got changed to one super specialty hospital for every three districts, he added.
