Bengaluru: BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday charged the Congress government in the state of not allowing Central schemes to reach the people, especially the poor and the farmers.

Addressing a well-attended convention of the state BJP’s Other Backward Classes (OBCs) at Palace Grounds in Bengaluru, Shah charged the Siddaramaiah government with being the ‘most corrupt’ in the country and stated that the time had come to weed it out of power.

He said that for political gains the state government was creating hurdles and depriving the people of the schemes launched by the NDA government during the last two-and-a-half years. “We have launched 54 schemes for the poor and the farmers since coming to power. They have reached the nook and corner of the country and are being appreciated. But the people of Karnataka are being deprived of the same by the state government,” Shah said.

The BJP chief addressed the convention in Hindi and kept it brief. Shah said the beating of drums (nagaari) to mark the inauguration of the OBCs’ convention had signalled that the last nail in the coffin of the state government had been hit. “The state has slipped down during the last five years. You must take it forward by voting the BJP back to power under the leadership of B S Yeddyurappa,” Shah stated.

He said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi India had become the fastest growing economy in the world. Modi has been getting a rousing welcome whichever country he visiting. “It is just not the welcome and greeting of the prime minister, but also a tribute to 125 crore people of India,” Shah said.

BJP state president Yeddyurappa challenged the Siddaramaiah government to hold a public debate to compare its achievement during the last three-and-a-half years to the programmes implemented during the BJP regime. He said the government had failed on all fronts. The Congress had sought votes from the OBCs during the Assembly polls but had betrayed them by completely ignoring their welfare, he said.

Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar said there will be two more occasion when the BJP will beat the drum (nagaari): when the party will launch its full-fledged “electoral war” against the Congress government and when Yeddyurappa is “crowned” the next chief minister of the state.