BENGALURU: A day after BJP state president BY Vijayendra dared the Congress to name AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge as its prime ministerial candidate, CM Siddaramaiah hit back, asking the BJP to declare former minister Govind Karjol as its chief ministerial face for Karnataka.
Siddaramaiah said if Vijayendra is truly concerned about the dignity of Dalits and Backward Classes, why doesn’t he relinquish his position as state BJP president and offer it to a Dalit leader and declare him as the CM candidate. “Though he (Karjol) now parrots your party’s tunes, having worked with him, I can vouch that he is fundamentally a decent man. If you or your party have the courage and conviction, declare Karjol as BJP’s state president and your chief ministerial face for Karnataka,” the CM said.
Siddaramaiah said if evidence is needed on how the BJP systematically undermines Backward Class leaders, look no further than Karnataka. “S Bangarappa, a prominent Backward Class leader, was politically finished by your father BS Yediyurappa. And now, Vijayendra, you are attempting to end the political career of his son, Kumar Bangarappa,” the CM told the BJP leader.
Siddaramaiah said, be it Bangarappa or Narendra Modi, their safety in the BJP exists only as long as they remain subservient to the casteist Hindutva agenda. The BJP’s treatment of Dalits and Backward Classes has always been tokenistic, he added.
Responding to Siddaramaiah’s remarks, Vijayendra said the Congress did not make Mallikarjun Kharge the CM, though there was an opportunity to do so, and people of the state know who is responsible for it. About Siddaramaiah’s suggestion to name Karjol as the CM candidate, Vijayendra said Karjol is a senior BJP leader, a former DCM , and currently a Member of Parliament; all doors of opportunity for him to rise to the highest positions in the future remain open.
BJP QUESTIONED OUR GUARANTEES, NOW CRAFTING SIMILAR SCHEMES: CONGESS
BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Industries Minister MB Patil said the BJP, which has been criticising Karnataka’s five guarantee schemes, is adopting similar models in other states. “The BJP, which ridicules our guarantee schemes in Karnataka, has now promised 125 units of free electricity a month in Bihar.
This clearly reveals the party’s duplicity in its attempt to woo voters,” Patil told reporters in Bengaluru on Thursday. He said the BJP had earlier criticised the Congress government’s Gruha Lakshmi scheme, but it implemented an identical programme in Maharashtra and has replicated the model in Delhi as well.
He said the BJP calls the Congress government’s schemes a burden on the exchequer, but defends them as fair when implemented by its own governments. These double standards are unjustified, he said. Shivakumar said the whole country was following the Congress model of governance.