Bengaluru: Calling the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka a "weak model of governance", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the alliance of Opposition parties wants to replicate this model at the Centre also. Kicking off his poll campaign in the state with a massive rally in the BJP stronghold of Hubbali in North Karnataka, Modi said: "They want to impose this weak model of governance on the whole of the country, where the leader of the government is crying over his situation. They will steal from the country and the whole world will laugh at the country. This is the model they want to inflict on the nation.''
"We need a new India that is strong, not weak. Every vote should say whether the honest should rule or the dishonest, whether development will rule or dynasty, positivity or negativity, whether you want clarity or cover-ups - these are the questions that will decide the future of the country,'' he said.
Attacking the state government, he said the coalition leaders were only concerned about their "selfish interests''. "Everybody is busy trying to protect their own chairs. Legislators are fighting with each other and cracking each other's heads," he said, referring to a brawl between two Congress legislators last month. "Everybody's punching bag is the Chief Minister of the state. He is busy, day and night, in protecting his chair from the big leaders of the Congress. He also keeps talking about feeling weak in the current situation. There is a question mark over who is in charge of the government," he said.
The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for an Indian Institute of Technology and an Indian Institute of Information Technology at Dharwad - Hubbali's twin city. He dedicated to the nation a gas distribution network and 2,350 houses built under the PMAY scheme in Dharwad, and two strategic petroleum reserve facilities in Mangalore worth £290 million.
