Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi by bringing up the Adani "corruption" issue in this Karnataka district headquarters town. It was in Kolar in 2019 that he made a remark on the Modi surname for which he was convicted of criminal defamation and stripped of his Parliament membership.

In his first visit to Karnataka after the Assembly polls were announced on March 29, Gandhi emphasised on the Adani issue to target the Prime Minister.

"Adani is a symbol of corruption," he said addressing the 'Jai Bharat' rally here.

Expressing confidence that the Congress would come to power in Karnataka, where Assembly elections are set to take place on May 10, Gandhi said the first Cabinet meeting after the party formed the government would approve its key poll promises, paving the way for their implementation.

The poll 'guarantees' announced by the party are: ‘Gruha Jyothi’ offering 200 units of free electricity every month to all, ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ giving Rs 2,000 per month to every woman head of the family, ‘Anna Bhagya’ offering 10 kg rice to each member of a BPL family every month and ‘Yuva Nidhi’ where Rs 3,000 will per month be given to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 per month to diploma holders for two years.

“These schemes will be implemented on the first day in the first cabinet meeting itself,” Gandhi said during the 'Jai Bharat' rally here in the run-up to the May 10 elections.

"I am very glad the Congress party is fighting Karnataka Assembly elections unitedly," he said.

He asked the Congress leaders in Karnataka to send across a message all over the country that “if Prime Minister Narendra Modi can give thousands of crores to Adani, we can give money to the poor and women.” “If you wholeheartedly help Adani, we (Congress) will wholeheartedly help poor, unemployed youth and women. You (PM Modi) do your work, we will do our work,” Gandhi said.

He also attacked the Basavaraj Bommai government in Karnataka over corruption issues, including allegations by contractors and private schools that they were forced to pay "40 per cent commission" and charges of "corruption" in the recruitment of sub-inspectors.

Gandhi alleged that the contractors' association had written a letter on the issue of "40 per cent commission" to the Prime Minister but he remained silent on it, which was a "confession" that there indeed was corruption.

Senior Congress leaders including AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, KPCC chief DK Shivakumar, and legislature party leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah were among those who addressed the public meeting.

Rahul Gandhi was on March 23 sentenced to two years in jail by a court in Gujarat's Surat in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his "why all thieves have the Modi surname" remark. A day later, he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction in the case. The Gandhi scion had made those remarks at Kolar in April 2019 during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.

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