Mysuru: Chief minister Siddaramaiah Sunday heavily criticised principal opposition party BJP, saying abusive remarks by former ministers B Sreeramulu and G Janardhana Reddy against Congress functionaries “reflected BJP’s political culture”. BJP functionaries had purportedly made the remarks during a protest in Ballari. Recalling an incident during Lok Sabha elections, Siddaramaiah said he was prevented from campaigning in Ballari. “I was accompanied by former Union minister CM Ibrahim. We eventually campaigned near a Kuruba temple. At that time, I was the leader of the opposition,” Siddaramaiah said, adding that this alone proved BJP’s “lack of faith in democracy” and its “inclination towards authoritarianism”. Responding to BJP’s call for agitations over recent violence in Ballari, Siddaramaiah said protests while in the opposition were the party’s internal matter, and the govt would respond appropriately. He lambasted Reddy, pointing out that he was once barred from entering Ballari district and that Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde had referred to Ballari as the “Republic of Ballari” in his report on illegal mining. He said BJP had no faith in the parliamentary system and Congress did not need lessons from those who resorted to “hooliganism”. Rejecting BJP’s allegation that Congress was turning Karnataka into a “Republic of Congress”, he said his party stood for democracy, the Constitution and its ideals, and questioned the political motives behind BJP’s agitations. He said that when BJP was at the helm, it did not hand over even a single case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). “They have no moral right to question us. Our govt has handed over 7-8 cases to CBI,” he said. On criticism over convening a legislature session to discuss scrapping of MNREGA, he said the Constitution mandated a joint session at the legislature’s first meeting in a calendar year. He said the special session was called to oppose attempts to dilute key UPA-era welfare legislation such as MGNREGA, the Right to Education, the Right to Information and the Food Security Act.
