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Welcome to Karnataka, Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. You do not visit us during floods, nor during droughts, but you never miss an election campaign. Despite this, six and a half crore Kannadigas eagerly await your arrival. However, they have some pressing questions and expect answers in your speech tomorrow. 

Will you meet their expectations that you will assist during droughts, contribute more through tax share, and fulfill promises of special support?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our Kannadiga voters placed their trust in you, electing 17 MPs in 2014 and 25 in 2019 from your party. 

Don’t they deserve to know about the progress made during your last 10 years in office? This time, will you minimise the usual rhetoric of Hindu-Muslim, India-Pakistan, temple-mosque, vegetarian-non vegetarian and Mughals-Peshwas, and instead spend 10 minutes discussing your government’s achievements?

Will you address the charges against your government regarding unemployment, inflation, and corruption?

During election times, the manifestos released by political parties are not just a bundle of promises, but a guarantee given to the voter. The elected party is obligated to provide voters with an account of the promises fulfilled from the manifesto after five years.

As a Chief Minister who has done this consistently with dedication and responsibility, I feel I have the moral authority to question your failures. You have neither accounted for the promises from the previous election’s manifesto nor released a new one for this election. Isn’t this a clear disregard for both the voters and the principles of our Constitution and democracy?

On the issue of injustice in drought relief and tax distribution, your ministers, Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, have blatantly misled the public. I personally approached you last year on December 19th to request the release of drought relief. The Home Minister assured a high-level committee meeting on December 23 to take a decision regarding the relief. Despite this, to now suggest that our government was late in requesting drought relief is essentially lying, isn’t it, Prime Minister?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed that the Election Commission did not permit the release of drought relief because the Karnataka Government’s request was late. But, our government had submitted a request to the Union Government on September 23rd last year, long before the Lok Sabha elections were announced on March 16th. Prime Minister, does it genuinely require five months to review a request from a state government? Is this the efficiency you refer to when you speak of ’Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’?

When we voice concerns about the unfair distribution of taxes to our state, you label it as treason. However, when you, as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, raised similar concerns about tax disparities, were you not in the same position? You openly questioned, ’Is Gujarat a beggar state?’ addressing the inequities.

As Prime Minister, you are above the divisions of caste, religion, language, and region. However, if there is a perception among Kannadigas that you oppose Kannada, Kannadigas, and Karnataka, aren’t you responsible for addressing this concern? If we advocate for our land, water, and language, you accuse us of treason. If we resist the imposition of Hindi, request a flag for Kannada, or seek opportunities for our youth to take Union Government exams in their mother tongue, you call it treason. When will you, who claim to be a ’Vishwa Guru,’ truly embody the spirit of a global citizen (Vishwa Maanava)?

Tomorrow, you are set to campaign in the Mysuru and Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituencies. The decision to deny tickets to two of your sitting MPs from these seats has caused widespread surprise. Even members of your own party are providing speculative reasons for this decision. Could you clarify the actual reasons behind this choice?