VIJAYAPURA: BJP veteran and former chief minister BS Yediyurappa has criticised party state president Nalin Kumar Kateel for his statement referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi a “drug addict and peddler.”
“Kateel should not have made such a comment on Rahul. I will speak to Kateel to know in what context he made the remark. It is not just Kateel. No one should speak like that about anyone,” Yediyurappa told the media at Moratagi village in Sindagi taluk on Wednesday. The former CM was in Sindagi taluk to campaign for party candidate Ramesh Bhusanur ahead of the October 30 bypolls.
Yediyurappa said he respects Rahul. “He (Rahul) enjoys the respect of his party workers... It was not at all necessary to make that remark,” the 78-year-old Lingayat strongman added. Responding to a question on the Congress and JDS targeting the RSS, Yediyurappa said, “I have no objection to the Congress and JDS dragging the name of RSS into the campaign. People are intelligent enough to understand the motive behind it. Leaders of both the parties are day-dreaming that they will gain political mileage by this.”
He said that the voters of Hanagal and Sindagi will teach the Congress and JDS a lesson in the upcoming bypolls. Meanwhile, Yediyurappa received a rousing welcome from BJP supporters at Moratagi and Golageri villages. It was his first visit to Vijayapura district after stepping down as Chief Minister in July.
Addressing a public rally at Moratagi, Yediyurappa said, “Congress is playing divisive politics. It is using money and liquor to win the bypolls. Whereas, the BJP government, led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, is not biased towards any one particular group and is committed to the overall development of the state.”
Yediyurappa said that as Chief Minister, he never differentiated between people on the basis of their religion or caste. “I introduced several schemes like Sandhya Suraksha Yojana and Kisan Saman Yojana,”
he added. Minister for Irrigation Govind Karjol accused the Congress of disrespecting Dr B R Ambedkar by defeating him in elections and not giving space in Delhi to conduct his last rites. “It shows how much they value the Constitution. The Congress sheds crocodile tears to appease SCs and other communities,” fumed Karjol.