New Delhi, January 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday praised Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over his Twitter duel with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The two chief ministers were engaged in a bitter war of words on the social media.
“Yogi Ji bhi kam khiladi nahin hain. Kayi rajyon mein bahut logon ke saath hamare Yogi Ji Twitter-Twitter ka khel khel rahe hain. Aur Twitter ke khel mein bhi acche acche khiladiyon ko unhone parast karke rakh diya hai. (Yogi ji is no less a player than anyone. In many states, he is engaged on a Twitter duel with leaders and defeated them on the micro-blogging site),” Modi said.
Ahead of the polls in Karnataka, there has been a war of words between Siddaramaiah and Adityanath during the latter’s visit to the state. Escalating attack on Adityanath, Siddaramaiah had dubbed him a “jungle raj” chief minister, as both were locked in a Twitter war that went viral.
“I welcome Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to our state. There is a lot you can learn from us, Sir. When you are here, please visit an Indira Canteen and a ration shop. It will help you address the starvation deaths sometimes reported from your state,” Siddaramaiah had tweeted.
While addressing a BJP rally in the garden city, Adityanath accused Siddaramaiah of intermixing religion and politics, thus following the footsteps of Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
A day earlier, Adityanath had mocked at Siddaramaiah’s assertion about his Hindu credentials to which the latter had said the Hindutva he follows was the legacy of Swami Vivekananda and not Nathuram Godse, assassin of Mahatma Gandhi.
Even the Congress has hit out at Adityanath and shared a video on Twitter titled ‘Here’s a recipe for a BJP star campaigner. We don’t recommend it’. The Congress took on Adityanath saying, “Recipe for disaster coming soon to Karnataka.” Highlighting cases against Adityanath, the Congress said, “One kg of criminal record dipped in one litre of saffron dye, shedding half a cup of ‘crocodile’ tears, a cup of homophobia and two tablespoon of misogyny, no attention to development and simmer it on a communal flame and later bring it to a boil. At last, garnish it with ignorance and serve it with hate in Karnataka.”
The video came after the second visit of Adityanath to Karnataka in less than a month to campaign for his party. His last visit was to Hubbali on December 21, 2017 to address a rally.