BackRahul Gandhi harps on IT jobs, silent about BJP’s manifesto
Congress vice-president had only on Sunday criticized the saffron party for delaying the election document
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Bangalore: On Day 1 of Lok Sabha elections, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi pledged to create more jobs by strengthening India’s fledgling hardware industry, and hailed Bangalore for its emergence as a world-renowned technology industry hub. The Gandhi scion was speaking at an election rally in the city’s National College grounds on Monday—his first in Bangalore this year.
But Rahul Gandhi, notably, made no mention of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) manifesto that was released on Monday, as only a day ago he had criticized the saffron party for delaying the election document. He mostly spoke about issues he has addressed before—women empowerment and creation of jobs for the country’s youth.
In the 25-minute speech, Gandhi claimed that the Congress government in Karnataka under former chief minister S.M. Krishna was largely responsible for Bangalore’s emergence as an information technology (IT) hub. Bangalore is headquarter of software service firms Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd, which are among the top-five companies in India’s $118-billion IT industry.
“I believe what Bangalore is now is also because of steps that were taken by the S.M. Krishna government," said Gandhi. “I believe the success we have tasted in the software industry can be replicated in the hardware (industry) as well."
The industrial infrastructure project spanning the Delhi-Mumbai, Chennai-Bangalore corridor would create hundreds of jobs for a large chunk of India’s population, he added.
The Congress leader also took the opportunity to blame the Karnataka government under BJP’s B.S. Yeddyurappa for failing to address Bangalore’s garbage disposal problems, and water and power issues. “Under BJP, from being the ‘garden’ city, Bangalore become the ‘garbage city’," said Gandhi.
“While the Congress party focused on developing IT in Bangalore, the BJP became the face of corruption in the state." Gandhi was referring to the mining scam in Karnataka that reportedly cost the state exchequer Rs1 lakh crore.
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