BENGALURU: Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah on Sunday made a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Karnataka to inaugurate two high-profile projects -- the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway and IIT Dharwad campus.
Besides releasing a letter addressed to Modi, Siddaramaiah fired questions and barbs on Twitter with the hashtag #AnswerMadiModi, on corruption in Karnataka. “@narendramodi, Why are you silent despite Lokayukta exposing rampant corruption done by MLA Virupaksha & his son? Do you also have share in that corrupt money? Will a corrupt & shameless MLA of @BJP4Karnataka be able to go on a display march without the support of the supreme leader of BJP like you?”
“Change your Na Khaunga, Na Khane dunga slogan to ‘Thum Khao, Muje bhi Khilao’,” he suggested.
He also drew comparisons to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, recalling that when veteran BJP leader Bangaru Laxman was caught taking a bribe and captured on camera, he lost his job. “This happened when Vajpayee was president of BJP... Under Vajpayee’s leadership, many BJP Karnataka leaders like B S Yediyurappa, Janardhan Reddy, Katta Subramanya Naidu, Krishnaiah Shetty, Sampangi and others lost their positions and went to jail. Why is this not happening now?” he questioned.
“In Vajpayee’s era, three ministers lost their positions for watching porn in the assembly & one had to resign over allegations of rape. If that was Vajpayee’s era, Is this how you define @narendramodi’s era?” Siddaramaiah said. Putting forth his ‘eighth instalment of questions’ in a letter to Modi, that was released to the media, Siddaramaiah raised the issue of Channagiri BJP MLA Madal Viripakshappa being accused of bribery, and asked Modi what the IT and ED were doing.