BENGALURU: BJP General Secretary and Rajya Sabha member Radha Mohan Das Agrawal dared Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for an open debate with state BJP president BY Vijayendra on the government’s performance and the party’s chargesheet, where they have listed out the government’s failures.
Agrawal slammed Siddaramaiah for filing a defamation case against the BJP for criticising his government.
“Let the debate be telecast across Karnataka. If he (Siddaramaiah) is confident and has the courage to respond to the allegations, let him participate in the debate. We are ready, and we will invite them. If the CM does not agree to a debate, it means that our allegations are true,” the BJP leader said.
Agrawal said that Congress won 136 seats in 2023, and within one year, the people of Karnataka did not vote for them in the Lok Sabha polls. “Congress’ corruption has been exposed. If it continues, Congress will lose future polls,” he said.
On the Congress government deciding to file a defamation case against BJP, he said, “The Congress organised its Sadhana Samavesha on May 20 to celebrate the second anniversary of the party coming to power in the state. As a responsible opposition party, BJP gave counter advertisements highlighting the failures of the State Government and released a chargesheet. If they did not agree with our chargesheet, they should have replied before the public. It is common in democracy to make allegations and counter allegations. But perhaps for the first time, a government is filing defamation case against the opposition.”
Congress top brass leaders lack the ability to think sanely and looks like they have influenced their state leadership, and that may be the reason for their decision to file defamation, he said.
On the BJP suspending MLAs ST Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar, Agrawal said that that party never wants to lose any of its members, but discipline is supreme.
On MLA Muniratna, who has many allegations against him, Agrawal said that no one is bigger than the law. “The State Government might be investigating. We will not intervene. If he is found guilty, we will take action accordingly,’’ he said. Agrawal also hit out at the attempts to “threaten” Leader of Opposition in the Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy and demanded an investigation into what he called the failure of Kalaburagi district administration, including the DC and SP.