Bengaluru, Mar 31 (Agencies): Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said his party would form a coalition government in the Centre with Janata Dal-Secular (JD-(S)) and other allies by defeating Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2019 general elections.
"Just as we formed a coalition government with the JD(S) in Karnataka in May 2018 and kept the BJP out of power, we will do the same in the Centre with JD(S) and other parties after defeating the NDA government," he said at a massive public meeting with the ruling coalition partner.
Polling across the southern state is in two phases on April 18 and April 23 for 28 parliamentary seats.
Accusing the BJP-led NDA government of doing nothing for farmers, poor, youth, women and others since coming to power in 2014, Gandhi said Modi also lied to the nation and its people, having promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh in each bank account from the black money stashed away in Switzerland, create 2 crore jobs and bring "achche din".
"Instead, he worked only for the rich and 15-20 crorepatis (billionaires). He became a 'chowkidar' for industrialists like Anil Ambani and Adani and fugitives like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi who fled the country," said Rahul in his 20-minute speech in Hindi and translated in Kannada for the local people.
Rahul Gandhi also asked leaders and workers of the Congress-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka to strive unitedly to defeat the Modi government in the Lok Sabha polls.
Gandhi's comments come amid reports of deep resentment in several constituencies among local leaders and workers of the Congress and JD(S), which are fighting the polls unitedly.
He asked the Congress workers and leaders to work for JD(S) candidates and made a similar appeal to JD(S) counterparts, emphasising that their main target was to 'defeat Modi'.
He also raked up the "Yeddyurappa diary" issue, referring to the allegation that the former Chief Minister had paid Rs 1,800 crore as bribe to the party top brass.
"Whose money is Rs 1,800 crore?" Gandhi asked, as he mentioned about the alleged entries in the diary about payments having been made to senior BJP leaders.
"Where did this money come from?" he asked, adding it came from farmers.
JD(S) supremo Deve Gowda said, "Be it Chandrababu Naidu, Mayawati or other senior leaders, we have all come together to ensure India remains secular and progressive. This mega rally will send a message to voters of Karnataka and across India about the strength of the opposition."
Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, opposition leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leaders Dinesh Gundu Rao, K C Venugopal and others were present.