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BJP's ‘super CM’ jibe at Cong MLA's ‘RSS ban’ remarks; Priyank Kharge says ‘fails history again’
A fresh controversy has erupted after Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge's reported comment on banning RSS and Bajrang Dal in the southern state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday dismissed Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge's reported statement threatening a ban on RSS and Bajrang Dal as “vacuous comments” and said the Congress should instead focus on implementing the five poll guarantees. Priyank Kharge, a Congress MLA from Chittapur and son of party president Mallikarjun Kharge, reportedly said the Karnataka government will ban the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, BJP's ideological fountainhead, and Bajrang Dal if they disturb the peace in the state.
Posting the snapshot of a newspaper report, Malviya tweeted, “Is Priyank Kharge the super CM of Karnataka? Or does being Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s son give him a bloated head to speak over CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivkumar?”
“Instead of unleashing ministers without portfolio to make such vacuous comments, Congress should focus on delivering on its 5 Guarantees,” he added, warning that people are ready to hit the streets if the grand old party goes back on its poll promise.
Hitting back at the BJP functionary, Kharge said that Amit Malviya “fails history again” as the concept of “super CM was introduced during the tenure” of BS Yediyurappa. Countering the charge of dynastic politics, Kharge asked Malviya to “show the courage to & ask Amit Shah ji, Rajnathji, Goyalji, Pradhanji, Anuragji, etc & then swing by to speak to me.”
In 2020, the Congress alleged that then chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s second son BY Vijayendra was acting as a ‘super CM’ of the state and had indulged in corruption running into several thousand crores. Vijayendra is the vice president of the Karnataka BJP unit while his elder brother Raghavendra is a Lok Sabha member representing the Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituency.
The state Congress claimed that even BJP MLAs themselves had written to the party high command complaining of the high-handed ways of Vijayendra and how he was indulging in corruption by interfering in government transfers, awarding of tenders and purchases made.
