Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told party workers at a strategy meeting of party office-bearers, “There is no election in any other state at the time that Karnataka goes to polls. So BJP will bring in RSS workers from different parts of the country and dump them here to work for their party, keep a watch on their activities.”
He further said that an election is like a war. “We are the Pandavas, who are walking on the right path while the BJP people are like the Kauravas, taking the wrong path,” he told the party workers, adding that booth-level committees must be especially wary of attempts by the opposition to tampering with any process.The party seems to be jittery about possible attempts to tamper with the election process too.
“We have already booked cases against BJP MPs like Pratap Simha, Ananth Kumar Hegde and Shoba Karandlaje for their provocative speeches. But we need to keep greater control on ground-level intelligence gathering on communal elements,” he told the officers.
He told them to even go ahead with ‘gadipaar’ orders under the Goondas Act against habitual offenders (keeping goonda elements out of the borders of the state).The BJP, in response, dismissed Siddaramaiah’s Mahabharat analogy. State BJP president B S Yeddyurappa, at a rally in rural Bengaluru, said, “Those who don’t know how to visit temples are comparing themselves to Pandavas and teaching us about Hindutva.”
His reference was to the fact that the CM had, two months back, visited the Dharmasthala temple after having eaten non-vegetarian food – something that is shunned by the priestly class.BJP spokesperson S Prakash wondered if Siddaramaiah’s strategy was to “bring police raj before elections to use it to their advantage”.”What does he want to do in Karnataka? He says he is giving instructions on policing. He is asking for ‘gadipaar’. Is he targeting BJP and Sangh workers? Does he want to use police force to neutralise the strong opponents,” he asked.
Post Your Comments