A day after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddharamaiah was unable to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, many Congress leaders including the CM himself, accused Modi of not having time to meet a delegation from the state.
However, state-level leaders of BJP have now come to Modi’s defence, accusing the Congress of trying to politicize “every little matter.”
"Prime Minister Modi speaks about co-operative federalism, but can't even meet Chief Ministers to discuss about inter-state issues," Siddharamaiah said.
Following Siddharamaiah’s comment that PM Modi did not grant him an appointment despite him having to discuss a number of pressing issues, BJP State President BS Yeddyurappa said that “Siddharamaiah should not blame Modi unnecessarily.”
Speaking to The News Minute, BJP spokesperson Go Madhusudhan said that the criticism of the Congress was unfounded and baseless.
“They had not received a confirmation from the PM, despite that CM chose to go to New Delhi at his own whims and fancy. That is not the expected procedure to follow. What is the meaning of pointing fingers at the PM, when he had not even given them an appointment? Even when one makes a telephone call, you first ask the person if he/she is free to speak and only then proceed to discuss your issues. That's the courtesy one should follow,” he said.
Madhusudhan added that the CM’s behaviour was not “civilized” and that the Congress should understand the pressures Modi is going through.
“Sometimes it so happens that PM will have to cancel meetings for which he gave prior permission to. One must understand that tensions of demonetisation is still going on,” he said.
Madhusudhan feels that it is incorrect for the Congress to say that the BJP-ruled central government was deliberately ignoring the state government’s needs.
“The Prime Minister should not be seen as a BJP man and even Siddharamaiah should be seen as the Chief Minister of the state, and not as a Congress man. The Congress is merely trying to make a political game out of it,” Madhusudhan said.