In Mangalore, Sonia Gandhi promises political stability

All-India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi appealed to the people of the state to vote for the party that would bring political stability and create conducive atmosphere to implement the Centre's welfare schemes.

During her 20-minute speech in Mangalore, she chided the BJP's Operation Lotus—through which the party came to power in 2008—and asked the voters to bring the Congress into power. She said people should ask the state government why the Centre's social-empowerment programmes were not effective in Karnataka, despite copious funding from the Centre. Saying that National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme did not generate the expected level of employment, she asked where the money was going.

She took a note of the communal tension in Mangalore and held it responsible for the coastal district losing on investment. She said many investors wanted to set up shop in Mangalore but owing to the tense scenario created by communal elements, they took their business elsewhere in the country. This phenomenon, she said, was affecting the job creation in the state and hindering the state's progress.

Stating that the Congress wants Karnataka to be numero uno in terms of development in the country, she promised that the party would not let people's aspirations go waste. She said the victory of the Congress in Udupi-Chikkamagalur Lok Sabha seat and urban local body polls had established that things are in favour of the party. She requested people to elect a government that would work for the people.