Rahul Gandhi’s name figuring in the invitee’s list of the Karnataka Global Investor Meet 2016, scheduled to be held in the first week of February has created a row in the state.
BJP leaders allege that the state government was trying to get political mileage out of the event that was in the interest of state’s economic growth.
Former law minister and BJP leader Suresh Kumar, “If he is going to come as an investor then the question about political investment would arise. Even if he is the vice president of Congress party, Gandhi has no locus standi to attend such kind of programmes.”
“This is not a party programme where politicians can use the event according to the the whims and fancies of the leader,” he told the News Minute (TNM).
Suresh Kumar rubbished industries minister R V Deshpande’s justification that Gandhi deserved to be invited because he was a parliamentarian.
“If they really had to call a member of parliament, then they could have called someone who has the authority to speak on the subject. Jairam Ramesh, who is also a parliamentarian and was a former deputy chairman of the planning commission of Karnataka,” he said.
“Rahul Gandhi went to Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru (no offence intended) and came out chastised. I hope that memory would be still there in his mind,” Suresh said.
BJP leader KS Eshwarappa, who is among the invitees alleged that the government has extended the invite to Gandhi because they are looking for appreciation from Congress party leaders.
“When BJP government was in power in Karnataka, we did not invite any political leader from the BJP. We invited only the central ministers concerned with industries. But this is turning out to be more of propaganda for Gandhi,” Eashwarappa told TNM.
Eshwarappa pointed out that Gandhi’s visit to the state to meet the families of deceased farmers had also created a lot of controversy.
“So far nothing has been done to ease the farmer suicide crisis. In fact a deceased farmer's family has accused the government of going back on the promise of visiting them,” he said.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley would be inaugurating the event, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, M Venkaiah Naidu, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, H N Ananth Kumar, Karnataka state opposition leaders Jagadish Shettar and K S Eshwarappa will be guests at the event.
Among India Inc. honchos Ratan Tata, Anil Ambani, Anand Mahindra, Sajjan Jindal, N.R. Narayan Murthy, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Devi Prasad Shetty, S. Gopalakrishna, Gautam Adani and Kumar Mangalam Birla have confirmed their participation in the event.