E-Paper
CM slams Rahul, says needn’t talk about ‘fake Gandhis’, Cong hits back
Reacting to Bommai’s statements Siddaramaiah, the former chief minister and leader of the opposition, on Sunday shot back saying that the Congress “did not need to learn lessons from the BJP”.
During an event to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday took pot shots at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his family and said that there was no need to talk about “fake Gandhis” on the occasion.
““Why are you talking about Nakli (fake) Gandhis on Gandhi Jayanti. There is no need to talk about Nakli Gandhis on Gandhi Jayanti?” Bommai said.He was replying to a query on Rahul Gandhi’s charge that there was rampant corruption in Karnataka under the BJP rule.
Unleashing a tirade against the Congress, the principal opposition party in Karnataka, Bommai said that the entire party was out on bail but now speaks about alleged corruption by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“The entire party is out on bail. The previous president (of the All India Congress Committee), Sonia Gandhi, their state president (DK Shivakumar...the entire party is a bail party who have corruption allegations against them,” he said.
He added that the” Congress treated Karnataka as its ATM and are sad that this is not the case anymore”.
“Earlier Karnataka was their ATM and they may be sad about it..as it is not the case anymore. There is no 40% or any other percentage...everyone knows about this. This is a sinister campaign and I have repeatedly said that if anyone can share any incident (on corruption) anywhere, we will probe it,” he said.
The statements come even as the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra has been canvassing the poll-bound Karnataka, in a hope to mobilise support for the party in the upcoming assembly elections in which the Congress is trying to return to power.
With elections inching closer, the two national parties in the state are trying to outdo each other in various campaigns, including on corruption, blaming each other for communalism and vicious attacks to help improve its own chances of getting back to power.
Reacting to Bommai’s statements Siddaramaiah, the former chief minister and leader of the opposition, on Sunday shot back saying that the Congress “did not need to learn lessons from the BJP”.
“Should we listen to all this... from the people who killed (Mahatma) Gandhi... Who killed Gandhi? Nathuram Godse... Who is glorifying him? Should we learn from these people? This is how unfortunate things are,” Siddaramaiah said.
While reacting to the bail charges, Siddaramaiah slammed Bommai, stating that there were “several ministers within the government who were accused of corruption”.
“Aren’t they out on bail? The BJP? The six ministers who took out anticipatory bail, who are they? Did they get bail without any accusations? They were scared that their sleazy acts would be shown on TV and hence brought the stay. Isn’t BS Yediyurappa, V Somanna out on bail? Did R Ashok not get a stay,” he questioned.
Siddaramaiah also said that the former national president of the BJP and incumbent Union home minister, Amit Shah, was also in jail.
“What will they say to us? Have they no shame,” Siddaramaiah said.
