Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah meets Rahul Gandhi, says Hindutva is BJP’s only issue

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, along with other senior Congress leaders of the state, on Saturday called on party president Rahul Gandhi at his residence.

The meeting comes in the wake of a verbal duel between Siddaramaiah and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah. Karnataka is likely to witness election in April-May.

Siddaramaiah had called the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) “Hindutva extremists”, while Shah had termed his government in Karnataka “anti-Hindu”.

“The BJP is raising irrelevant issues in Karnataka. That (Hindtva) is the only issue they have. Yogi Adityanath and Amit Shah are also raising the same issue and Narendra Modi may also raise the same issue,” ANI quoted Siddaramaiah as saying.

Rahul Gandhi had earlier warned his party leaders from making remarks which are unwarranted and personal.

Mani Shankar Aiyar was suspended from the primary membership of the party following his “neech” remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi just ahead of Gujarat election.

“Rahul Gandhi was very happy to know that there is no anti-incumbency against our government, and that all programmes that were mentioned in our manifesto have been completed,” Siddaramaiah said.

Karnataka Congress chief Dr G Parameshwara said Rahul Gandhi will visit the state on February 10-12 in the first leg of election campaign.