BENGALURU: A day after bypolls to two Assembly segments were announced, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday visited the RSS office in Bengaluru and held talks with its senior leaders. Sources said that during his meeting, the CM discussed the political developments in the state, including preparations for the by-polls, and other issues. The RSS leaders are said to have given some suggestions regarding the bypolls.
Winning the Hanagal and Sindagi seats will be crucial for Bommai to assert his leadership within the party as well as the government. This will be the first major elections under his leadership. One of two constituencies, Hanagal, is in his home district Haveri and was represented by a BJP MLA.
Apart from the bypolls, the government’s stand on protecting illegal religious structures including temples, the Congress’s criticism of the National Education Policy (NEP) and the RSS are said to have come up for discussion during the CM’s interaction with RSS leaders.
The Congress has targeted the RSS over the NEP during the legislative session. The CM and his ministers had strongly defended the NEP and hit back at former CM Siddaramaiah for comparing the RSS to the Taliban.
Meanwhile, reacting to Siddaramaiah’s statement on Sunday alleging that the BJP are “Talibanis”, BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel said, “I feel that Siddaramaiah himself is a ‘Bhayotpaadaka’ (terrorist). He is in a precarious situation in the Congress today. Whenever he is in such a situation he gives such statements. His is a Taliban culture,” he said.
He alleged that when Siddaramaiah was the CM, most number of murders took place in the state. Kateel said about 24 Hindu workers were killed during Siddaramaiah’s tenure. Earlier, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra too had visited the RSS office.