Taking serious exception to BJP State unit president Nalin Kumar Kateel’s remarks on Congress veteran M. Mallikarjun Kharge, former Minister Sharan Prakash Patil, former MLA B.R. Patil, former Parliamentarian K.B. Shanappa and other leaders said that Mr. Kateel’s language was a manifestation of his and his party’s culture.
Responding to Mr. Kharge who had recently said that RSS and BJP ideology was poisonous to the country, Mr. Kateel had, at Kalaburagi Airport on Saturday, said that people defeated Mr. Kharge as he was poisonous.
“Mr. Kateel’s remarks on Mr. Kharge show his culture. It shows his foolishness. Mr. Kharge had contributed a lot to the development of the Kalyana Karnataka region. Because of his efforts only, the region got Special Status under Article 371(J), ESIC medical complex and other several development projects. Mr. Kharge was defeated not because people did not like him, but because of hate and malicious propaganda spread by BJP. His defeat was the result of the BJP’s conspiracy to keep him away from the Parliament. Now, the people of Kalaburagi are regretting the defeat of the Congress veteran,” Mr. Sharan Prakash said, at a media conference in Kalaburagi on Monday.
Mr. B.R. Patil said that BJP had always resorted to the character assassination of a person when it did not find any fault with them. He strongly justified Mr. Kharge’s stance on RSS and BJP ideology by stating that he would continue to repeat Mr. Kharge’s words.
“Basing on his own experiences in India’s politics, Mr. Kharge had clearly said that RSS-BJP ideology was poisonous. Yes, it is. It is the poisonous ideology of RSS and BJP that has destroyed the secular fabrics of the nation. It is the ideology that has created enmity among the communities. Mr. Kharge was not the first to term RSS-BJP ideology as poisonous. Hundreds of scholars, intellectuals, social reformers and secular politicians have said and written a lot terming the RSS-BJP ideology as poisonous to the country. We could continue to repeat Mr. Kharge’s words,” he said. Mr. Shanappa, a former Rajya Sabha member, regretted being part of BJP for some time stating that his association with BJP was the biggest blunder in his long political career.
Referring to the internal clashes in BJP and the verbal attacks unleashed against Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa by Basangouda Patil Yatnal and K.S. Eshwarappa, Allam Prabhu Patil, a Congress leader, advised Mr. Kateel to stop his party leaders from spitting poison against each other before pointing to the poisonous people in other parties.