Siddaramaiah is a fake leader of backward classes: Shah

Setting eyes on Other Backward Classes (OBCs), which form the prominent political constituency of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday organised a convention of the OBCs at Kaginele, the birthplace of Kanakadasa, in Byadgi taluk of Haveri district.

Speaking at the State-level convention, BJP national president Amit Shah described Mr. Siddaramaiah as a “fake leader” of the backward classes.

He alleged that Mr. Siddaramaiah, who called himself a backward classes’ leader, was more concerned about the welfare of the minorities rather than the backward classes though they constituted a sizeable 22% of the State population.

He alleged that Mr. Siddaramaiah had prevented the people of Karnataka, particularly backward classes, from getting the benefits of 116 schemes launched by the Modi-led NDA government.

Listing out various schemes launched by the Centre, Mr. Shah said that in all these schemes, crores of families of backward classes would have benefited if the State government had properly implemented them. He said several Hindu activists had been killed by vested interests in the State and among them, many were from backward classes. He alleged that the Siddaramaiah government was trying to protect the accused involved in these murders.

“After the Yeddyurappa government comes to power, all the murderers will be dug out from their havens and brought to book,” he said.

Mr. Shah said it was now time for members of backward classes to decide on whether they wanted a “real leader” like Mr. Yeddyurappa who would take all the communities together with him or a “fake Ahinda (Kannada acronym for minorities, OBCs and Dalits) leader” like Mr. Siddaramaiah.

Mr. Shah took a dig at Mr. Siddaramaiah and said that he and his party had stalled the Bill, which the NDA government had tabled in Rajya Sabha for giving Constitutional status to the Backward Classes Commission. “Whatever may be the hurdles posed by the Congress for the Bill, the BJP will bring the legislation to give justice to the backward classes,” he said.