Guttedar can never be a counterweight to Kharge, says Sharan Prakash Patil

The spat between Malikayya Guttedar, who recently quit Congress to join the BJP, and Congress leaders continued with a fresh attack from Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil on Saturday.

Addressing a media conference at the Congress office here, Mr. Patil termed Mr. Guttedar an opportunist politician who embraced BJP ahead of Assembly elections after enjoying powers in Congress. He also said that BJP’s intention to develop Mr. Guttedar as a counterweight to senior Congress leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge in Hyderabad Karnataka region would fail.

“We cannot compare Mr. Kharge with Mr. Guttedar on any count. Mr. Kharge is a tall leader who undeniably contributed much to the development of backward Hyderabad Karnataka region. Despite being a six-time MLA and Minister, Mr. Guttedar’s contributions to the region are negligible. Mr. Guttedar had time and again attacked BJP’s anti-secular and communal politics in the past. But he has now joined the same party. If he had discontentment in Congress, why didn’t he quit it earlier and why did he join BJP ahead of elections? It is clear that he wanted to enjoy power in the Congress till the Congress-led government completes its term and then to quit it. He is an opportunist politician,” Mr. Patil said.

Asked about Mr. Guttedar’s declared intention of joining BJP to defeat Congress in Hyderabad Karnataka, Mr. Patil sarcastically advised Mr. Guttedar to win Afzalpur constituency where he was contesting, let alone the other segments in the region.

“Mr. Guttedar joined the BJP that he had vehemently opposed because he was not confident enough of a win in Afzalpur constituency on his own. Now, there is none in Afzalpur BJP [as everybody moved to Congress]. He is talking of defeating Congress in other constituencies of Hyderabad Karnataka when he is not sure of winning his own constituency. In the 2013 Assembly polls, Priyank Kharge, son of Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge, won in Chittapur by a margin of 30,000 votes. Has Mr. Guttedar won an election by such a huge margin? He has the illusion of inflicting damage on the Congress. It appears to me as a joke,” he said.

Responding to BJP leaders’ visits to Dalit houses, Mr. Patil said that projecting the visits of Dalit houses and having food as a great achievement itself was a crime against humanity. “Yeddyurappa goes to the houses of many others and has food there. Does he propagate it as a great achievement? Why did he then project his Dalit house visits? It clearly shows that he is belittling Dalits. He is looking down upon the Dalit community. That is why he projects his visits as a great honour to them. It is a crime.”

District Congress Committee president Jayadev Guttedar was present.