Mysore/Koppal/Bagalkot/Bangalore, Apr 8 (Agencies): The Congress was married to corruption, BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said Tuesday as he addressed election rallies in Karnataka and Kerala.
"Corruption and loot seems to be in the DNA of Congress. Generations may change, the leader will change but Congress intention is unchanged," Modi told a rally at Mysore during his whirlwind tour of Congress-ruled Karnataka, where BJP is going all out to maximise its tally having won 19 of the 28 seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Modi addressed five rallies through the day in Mysore, Koppal, Bangalore and Bagalkot in Karnataka and one at Kasargod in Kerala.
Modi said the Congress would suffer heavily in the staggered Lok Sabha election that began Monday.
Raising the pitch against Congress, he said, "People have made it a point to punish the Congress Party for looting and ruining the nation."
Renewing his offensive against Defence Minister A K Antony, whom he had called a "Pakistani agent" earlier, he said the country's defence had suffered seriously during his stewardship and said he owed an explanation to the people for this.
"Indian defence forces have not acquired the best of equipment during this period" and Antony owed an explanation to the people for this, Modi said. "How will India's vast maritime coast line be protected?Who is responsible for this?" he said, rapping the Defence Minister who hails from Kerala.
Modi said when two Indian soldiers were beheaded, Antony had told Parliament that terrorists in Pakistan's Army uniform were responsible for it, a statement about which the Pakistan Army was happy but the Indian Army was not.
Seeking to puncture claims of UPA government about its flagship programme MNREGA, he said in Koppal, "Madam Soniaji says we have eradicated poverty from villages. How did it happen?. (She says) We have brought NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act)...It only fills the pockets of Congress."
Picking on UPA's much touted RTI to attack Rahul Gandhi, Modi said, "Has the RTI given you (the people) something for your survival? The black money which has been stashed away, has it come back? In 2G scam, where crores of rupees have been gobbled up - has that booty come back?
"This Delhi government loots coal. Shehzade, please tell us who looted coal? People talk about looting of coal, but he (Rahul) says please take RTI. They (Congress) make fun of poor people. They don't want to free the country of corruption. Shouldn't the black money brought back to the country or not?, Modi said.
Labelling the UPA government as "weak", Modi said, "We do not want a weak government, but a strong government for which you must ensure that over 300 lotus bloom in the country."
In Bangalore, Modi gave former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee credit for India's IT boom.
Referring to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Modi said: "The 'shahzada' said my father (late Rajiv Gandhi) brought the IT revolution... The truth is Atalji got the IT Act.
"Is it not true that during NDA time, software export growth was over 40 percent but in UPA I it became 30 percent, and in UPA II it is 9 percent?"