Kundapur : Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar gave an open challenge to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to come up with the statistics of the achievements during the tenure of the Congress and the BJP parties in the State and debate it in a public platform.

He was speaking at a public programme as a part of the election campaign at Uppunda town in Kundapur taluk on Thursday. Reviewing some of the achievements of the BJP government, he said that though none of the chief ministers so far ever expressed willingness for the formation of new taluks, despite four committees recommending for the formation of taluks in their reports, the BJP government announced new taluks, understanding the need.

“Despite the State government sending proposals to the Central government during last five years requesting to sanction road development under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojane, the Centre has not sanctioned even one km road. Over 10,000 district roads have been developed in the state under various schemes and grants. The aim is to develop 50 km road in every constituency,” the CM said.

Taking a dig at the Congress leaders for making false allegations against the BJP leaders, he said the Congress men are making allegations for political reasons. The BJP government came to power with welfare of farmers as its motto and it has succeeded to maintain its words by introducing several schemes like loan without interest rates.

Shettar recalled the contribution of former minister Late Dr V S Acharya towards the development of the State. He appreciated Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts for successfully implementing the government programmes and called both the districts as ‘model’ districts.

Muzrai Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary, Baindoor MLA K Lakshminarayana and others were present. Hundreds of other party workers joined the BJP on the occasion.