Yadgir, April 23 (IANS) The Karnataka BJP said on Wednesday that the neighbouring Pakistan must pay the price for the Pahalgam terror attack in which scores of tourists and local civilians were killed.

“We are all Hindus first, and not divided by caste. Pakistan must pay the price for these killings. We are confident that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take firm action against the terrorists,” said the Karnataka BJP chief B.Y. Vijayedra while addressing a public meeting as part of the ‘Janakrosh Yatra’.

He added that the BJP government revoked Article 370 in J&K, which had “humiliated” Hindu Pandits and led to the deaths of soldiers in Kashmir.

“PM Modi rushed back from Saudi Arabia as soon as he learned about the Pahalgam terrorist attack. As soon as he heard of the massacre of Hindus, Union Minister Amit Shah dispatched officials to take charge,” he said.

Vijayendra has also cancelled the ‘Janakrosh Yatra’ scheduled for Thursday (April 24) in Ballari and Vijayanagara districts, and will attend the funeral of Bharath Bhushan from Mattikere, Bengaluru, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Kashmir.

At least 26 tourists and local civilians were killed on Tuesday after gunmen opened fire on innocent civilians in Baisaran in Jammu and Kashmir.

Attacking the Karnataka government, Vijayendra alleged that the poor have been suffering ever since the Congress government under Siddaramaiah came to power.

He said Siddaramaiah had announced five guarantees, but the one that hasn’t been publicly advertised is the sixth guarantee — the guarantee of price hikes.

He said that due to price hikes on over 50 essential commodities, the common people, farmers, and the poor are finding it extremely difficult to sustain their daily lives.

Vijayendra criticised the Siddaramaiah government for increasing petrol prices and stamp duty. He compared the present situation to the previous BJP regime, stating that when B.S. Yediyurappa was Chief Minister, farmers only had to pay Rs 25,000 for electricity connections to their fields, whereas now, under the Congress government, they are required to pay between Rs 2.5 to 3 lakh — a major burden on the poor and farmers.

He further alleged that under the PM Kisan Samman scheme, the Central government provides Rs 6,000, and the Yediyurappa-led state government earlier added Rs 4,000, which has now been discontinued.

“Poor people in rural areas now have to pay three to four times more even for simple blood tests,” he added.

He also highlighted a hike of Rs 9 in milk prices, Rs 3 in petrol, and Rs 5.50 in diesel.

He accused the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government of sowing seeds of division among different communities and castes.

He claimed that though the government has been in power for nearly two years, no significant development work has been carried out, nor has any budget been allocated for it.

He recalled that during the BJP regime, Yediyurappa had declared Yadgir as a district and sanctioned hundreds of crores in development funds.

The event was attended by Legislative Council Opposition Leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, former minister B. Sriramulu, Council Chief Whip N. Ravikumar, state office-bearers, district leaders, mandal presidents, and other party functionaries.