Karnataka polls: Modi chides Cong; Siddaramaiah reminds him of 'Reddy gang'

1. Karnataka polls: Modi chides Cong; Siddaramaiah reminds him of 'Reddy gang' There is a fierce competition between the BJP and Congress for Karnataka Assembly election 2018. PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath will address rallies in Karnataka today. Catch Karnataka polls 2018 updates Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were in battleground Karnataka on Thursday, crossing swords over a plethora of issues including corruption, ahead of the May 12 voting to elect a new government in the state.While Modi played a nationalism card and accused the Congress of promoting only one family, Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at him for his "personal attacks" that "doesn't behove" of a person holding a high office.Modi alleged that the Congress had insulted the Indian Army by questioning the truth behind 2016 surgical strikes against terrorists in Pakistan. He said the Congress was spreading "lies" by accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being anti- Dalit, anti-Muslim and anti-women.Seeking to give an adrenaline boost to BJP campaign to wrest the state from the Congress and form its government for a second time, Modi addressed three election meetings and Rahul Gandhi four during their whirlwind trip.The Karnataka government is a "gold medalist" in corruption and Congress leaders are "drunk on power", Modi told a public meeting in state capital Bengaluru.Dubbing the Siddaramaiah

2. government as "seedharupaiah government" (corrupt), a punning allusion to the chief minister's name, Modi said an ordinary man cannot get done any work without bribing officials. "Because of this seedha rupaiah government Karnataka is immersed in debt," he told an election rally in http://Ballari.In the line of Congress fire over the BJP granting party tickets to Reddy brothers, accused of involvement in a humongous illegal iron ore mining scam, the prime minister hit back. "This Karnataka government frustrated all attempts by the Centre to stop illegal mining in Ballari....to allow the auction of mining blocks. But the Siddaramaiah government failed to formulate a mining policy in five years," he told an election rally in Ballari.Rahul Gandhi, who addressed election rallies in Aurad, Bhaki, Humnabad and Bidar, slammed Modi for personal attacks against him. Gandhi, however, said whether the attacks on him were right or wrong, he would not make any personal attack on Modi because he was the prime minister.He questioned his silence over the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal and fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi who defrauded the Punjab National Bank of thousands of crores of rupees.Rahul Gandhi said Modi had promised to deposit Rs 1.5 million (Rs 15 lakh) each in poor citizens' bank accounts but didn't do it. Gandhi said Modi also promised 20 million (two crore) jobs to the youth every year and higher minimum support price to farmers but he did none of this. Here are the top 10 developments in the BJP and Congress' ongoing Karnataka Assembly election 2018 campaign: 1) Siddaramaiah takes to Twitter to attack Modi, Adityanath: Stung by the attack launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath against him, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday took to micro-blogging site Twitter to hit out at them. With hashtag #ModiHitWicket, Siddaramaiah posed questions to Modi as he arrived for extensive canvassing in Kalaburagi, Ballari and Bengaluru. Siddaramaiah reminded Modi to mention about the "loot of Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion) worth iron ore" allegedly by BJP's Janardhana Reddy.