NEW DELHI: BJP president
Amit Shah said today that "if there were ever a competition for the most corrupt government then the (BJP's) Yeddyurappa government would come first".
Shah wasn't joking, but he didn't mean to say that either about
BS Yeddyurappa (
BSY), who is the BJP's candidate for chief minister in the
Karnataka Assembly elections. The BJP president merely misspoke.
As soon as Shah said that at a press conference he was holding in Bengaluru, BSY - who was earlier CM of Karnataka - and sitting to Shah's right, leaned over to him, possibly to correct him. Then Shah amended what he said - that he meant "
Siddaramaiah would come first in a competition for the most corrupt government" - but the damage had been done.
Of course, Rahul Gandhi and his Congress party (just like the BJP would have) couldn't pass up this opportunity to pillory Shah and it had a field day doing so.
"...time for a sneak preview of our top secret campaign video! Gifted to us by the BJP President, our campaign in Karnataka is off to a fabulous start. He says Yeddyurappa ran the most corrupt Govt ever... True", tweeted Congress president Rahul.
"Who knew Amit Shah could also speak the truth- we all concur with you Amit ji BSY-BJP is the most corrupt!" tweeted Divya Spandana of the Karnataka unit of the Congress party.
Spandana said in another tweet that this wasn't the first time Shah misspoke about BSY.
"This isn’t the first time btw- what exactly are Amit Shah’s feelings towards Yedyurappa? All’s not good in the hood," she said in the tweet with a clip of another time that Shah misspoke.
In this undated clip, Shah is heard saying, "Yeddyurappa says the BJP doesn't help with the development of Karnataka." Again, he meant to say "Siddaramaiah" not "Yeddyurappa".
The Karnataka government also had a bit of a laugh with Shah's gaffe.
"The Truth can never be Suppressed. Even Amit Shah agrees that Yeddyurappa led the Most Corrupt Government ever," it tweeted.
Current chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah called the BJP president "the Shah of Lies" and said he's finally speaking the truth.
After the press conference, Yeddyurappa said the Shah gaffe was a slip of tongue, nothing more. He then proceeded to call the Congress's Siddaramaiah "stupid".
"Siddaramaiah is stupid. Let him count the number of times he has done the gaffe if abusing his own government," said BSY to TOI.
High-decibel rhetoric and down-low mudslinging on social media have already set the tone for the Karnataka Assembly elections which are to be held May 12.
