Kumaraswamy 'a punching bag for all', difficult to figure out who is in charge of state: PM Modi in Karnataka

With General Elections 2019 barely three months away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sounded the poll bugle in Karnataka, as part of the BJP's Mission South on Sunday. After addressing two massive public rallies in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur and Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur, the prime minister has now reached Karnataka's Hubballi to launch the BJP's Lok Sabha Election campaign in the state.

During his visit to Karnataka, the prime minister has unveiled several developmental projects in twin cities of Hubballi and Dharwad, 400km from the state capital Bengaluru. Those projects include the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Dharwad), a city distribution project in Dharwad, a 1.5-tonne Mangaluru strategic petroleum facility (SPR) and the 2.5-tonne Padur SPR facility of the state-run Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL).

Besides, the prime minister has also dedicated doubling of 18km Chikjajur-Mayakonda section railway line for passenger and freight services and initiated the electrification work of 346-km Hospeta-Hubballi-Vasco da Gama line in this region. The electrification of the broad gauge will reduce travel time and emission of greenhouse gas with lower diesel consumption.

Modi also took part in the house warming ceremony of 2,384 houses via video conferencing this evening. The houses were built in Dharwad under the BJP's government's flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

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Here are the Highlights from PM Modi's rally in Karnataka's Hubballi:

• Describing Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy a "punching bag for all", PM Modi said, "Everyone is challenging him and it’s difficult to figure out who’s the in-charge of the state. They want to impose the same ‘Mazboor’ model on the entire country".
• The prime minister reiterated his government's effort to curb corruption in the country and said, "People who thought they will never be questioned about their earnings are now being questioned and giving accounts for their loot".
• Lauding the Centre's decision to increase the income tax limit to Rs 5 lakh per annum, PM Modi said, "For the first time in history taxable income of Rs 5 Lakh per annum has been kept out of the purview of taxation. This will also benefit our young friends in Hubli-Dharwad as most of the youth fall in this income group".
• "For the first time, any govt has thought about the housing needs of the middle class. Therefore, a new category has been made to provide concession on the interest rates on home loans," PM Modi said during his rally in Hubballi.
• In the past 4 years, our govt has continuously worked for the poor and the middle class. We are also preparing for the next generation infrastructure in the various cities of the country, said the prime minister.
• While addressing the rally in Hubli, the Prime Minister asserted that the government was working with a vision for development for all, including children, youth, senior citizens and farmers, adding that projects worth Rs 5000 crores have been inaugurated a few moments ago which gives an impetus to the vision of development for all.
• Modi paid his respects to the seer of Siddaganga Mutt, Shivakumara Swami ji "who devoted his entire life to the oppressed and marginalised". With a massive gathering at his Hubballi rally, the prime minister also expressed his hope for a significant change in the political atmosphere of Karnataka soon.

In 2014 General Elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had bagged 17 out of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka. While the Congress managed to get 9 seats in the state, the JD-S had been relegated to the distant third spot with only 2 votes in its kitty.