BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa on Monday alleged that the Congress was making an attempt to make its senior leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge a ‘scapegoat’ by asking him to contest for All India Congress Committee (AICC) president’s poll.
Addressing a press conference in Kalaburagi, Mr. Eshwarappa said that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, who held the party’s top posts earlier, failed to make any magic and stood responsible for the party’s debacle, and now the Congress found a scapegoat [Mr. Kharge] to take responsibility for failures, he added.
Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Mr. Eshwarappa alleged the party that divided India on the basis of religion in 1947 due to power hunger is now talking about Bharat jodo.
Reacting to the ban of Popular Front of India (PFI), Mr. Eshwarappa said that anti-national organizations like PFI and SDPI across the country have the backing of Congress. “I am not saying all Muslims are involved in such activities, but the organizations and political parties like SDPI which indulge in anti-national activities should be banned. The SDPI will also be banned very soon. Congress supported these organizations [PFI and SDPI] to gain minority votes, but there is no existence of Congress today; there is nothing left in the party to be split,” he stated.
Reacting to the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s statement to ban RSS, Mr. Eshwarappa reiterated that the motto of the RSS is to propagate patriotism and protect the country.
OBC convention on October 30 in Kalaburagi
Mr. Eshwarappa said that the BJP will be organising a convention of Backward Classes in Kalaburagi on October 30. The objective of the convention is to highlight the schemes and welfare programmes launched by the BJP-led Central and State government for the benefit of backward classes.
Five teams of BJP leaders including himself [K.S. Eshwarappa], Energy Minister V. Sunil Kumar, Social Welfare Minister Kota Sreenivasa Poojary, Urban Development Minister Byrati Basavaraj, and Tourism Minister Anand Singh would tour the State and hold district-level meetings, he said.
The party would hold a preliminary meeting of the leaders in Hubballi on October 10, where 10 Backward Classes’ leaders from each district will take part. More than five lakh people would attend the convention in Kalaburagi, he added.
