Why should I talk about fake Gandhis?: CM Bommai on Gandhi Jayanti

www.mangaloretoday.com

Bengaluru, Oct 2, 2022: Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday hit out at the Congress, and more particularly at the "fake Gandhis", a day after Rahul Gandhi had brought up the "40 per cent commission" controversy amid the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Leaders of both the BJP and the Congress have been stepping up attacks on each other in the race up to the assembly polls in the state.

The chief minister was addressing the media on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti when he slammed party leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and D K Shivakumar for being out on bail and alleged that the state was an "ATM" for the grand old party. “Today is Gandhi Jayanti, why should I talk about fake Gandhis? The whole Congress party is out on bail - Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and D K Shivakumar are out on bail. Karnataka was an ATM for the Congress party, now it’s gone," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Party stalwart D K Shivakumar responded to the chief minister’s statement, saying, “Yes, I’m on bail. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are also on bail. They’ve (BJP) dozens who are on bail. Yediyurappa has no case against him? Bommai registered cases against me. Let him send me to Parappana Agrahara (Central Jail), I’ll take some rest.”

Bommai’s statement comes after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi targeted the ruling BJP government in the state by bringing up the “40 per cent commission” controversy on Saturday as he led the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra for the second day in Karnataka. The controversy pertains to claims by contractors that a hefty commission had to be paid to government officers for getting any job done.

Meanwhile, Rahul resumed the third day of the mass contact programme in the southern state on Sunday, and offered tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at an event in Badanavalu of Mysuru on the 153rd birth anniversary of the ’Father of the Nation’.

The ruling BJP and its opposition Congress have also been locked in a stand-off with each other in poll-bound Karnataka, over the ‘PayCM’ posters, which featured the chief minister, meant to further the allegations over corruption in many of the government’s departments.