PM Narendra Modi hails Rahul Dravid for India's Under-19 World Cup victory, in Bengaluru rally

Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday heaped praise on legendary cricketer Rahul Dravid for his role in India's Under-19 World Cup title victory recently.

The Prime Minister hailed Rahul, who is also known as 'The Wall' while addressing a mega rally at the Palace Grounds in the cricketer's home-town.

Hailing Dravid's role as the head coach of the team, the Prime Minister said the former inspired 'honesty and unselfishness'.

"Our U-19 cricket team won the World Cup yesterday. Their head coach Rahul Dravid was a significant factor behind this victory. He teaches us to work honestly and live for others," Prime Minister Modi said.

The colts, on Saturday, crushed Australia by eight wickets to lift their overall fourth ICC U-19 World Cup, at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand.

The Prime Minister made a reference to Dravid when he was attacking the incumbent Congress government in Karnataka over rampant corruption.

Having landed at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Airport in the afternoon, the Prime Minister was flown to the venue in a chopper.

Thousands of youth and IT professionals from the city, along with several farmers and citizens from across the state, attended the event at the sprawling Palace Grounds.

Named "Nava Karnataka Nirmana Parivartana Yatra" (journey to build a new Karnataka), the rally across 224 assembly constituencies of the state was flagged off on November 2 by the party's national President Amit Shah.

The rally, which aims to bring the BJP back to power in the southern state on the plank of transforming it through development, was led by its state unit president and former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and the party's other state leaders.

Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Piyush Goyal who are in-charge of the BJP poll campaign in Karnataka, Ananth Kumar, DV Sadananda Gowda and Ananthkumar Hegde who hail from the state, were also present at the event.

Elaborate security arrangements were also put in place by the state administration to prevent any untoward incident.

Legislative assembly elections in Karnataka are due in April-May.

The BJP came to power on its own for the first time in 2008 but lost to the Congress after five years in the May 2013 election.

(With Agency inputs)