AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, K.C. Venugopal, on Saturday challenged the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to an open debate on alleged corruption in the government. He asked the BJP to fix the venue, date, and time for the debate.
Mr. Venugopal, who chaired a meeting of various wings of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), said there was no substance to the allegations on corruption in the government by BJP national general secretary in charge of the State P. Muralidhar Rao.
A few days ago, the State unit of the BJP had said it would prepare a “charge sheet” on “corruptions and scandals” of the Siddaramaiah-led government and distribute it across the State.
Mr. Venugopal instructed leaders and the head of the media wing of the party to activate the social and digital media of the party to reach out to the public on various pro-poor policies implemented by the government. He told party leaders not to refrain from issuing statements rebutting charges made by the BJP and JD(S) leaders on corruption in the government.
He also said there was no difference of opinion between KPCC president G. Parameshwara and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Both leaders would collectively work during the 2018 elections and bring the party back to power. Dr. Parameshwara too denied having any rift with Mr. Siddaramaiah. On the issue of the slain journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, Mr. Venugopal said the killers would be nabbed in a few days. The BJP has no moral right to speak on the murder of the journalist as none of them had attended her funeral, he said.