A public battle has ensued between Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Karnataka Congress leaders. Karnataka Congress leaders decided to take to Twitter to respond to comments made by Adityanath, where he criticised the party and its governance in the state.
On Thursday, during the Parivartana Yatra rally in Hubballi, Yogi Adityanath took a jibe at the Congress, and said that "It is the turn of the people in Karnataka to throw Congress out of south India as voters did in Gujarat and Himachal in western and northern India recently.”
"It's unfortunate that the Congress worships a despotic Muslim ruler like Tipu Sultan than Hindu deity Hanuman, who hailed from Karnataka and served Lord Ram," Adityanath said during his address as part of the second leg of the BJP’s statewide rally in the run-up to the assembly polls in April 2018.
This did not go down well. Responding to Adityanath, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah clarified that the state not only celebrated Tipu Jayanti, but also celebrated Ambedkar, Kanakadasa, Valmiki, Kittur Rani, Kempe Gowda and Krishna Jayanti.
ಹಿಂದುತ್ವ ಯಾರದೋ ಗುತ್ತಿಗೆ ಅಲ್ಲ. ಉತ್ತರ ಪ್ರದೇಶದ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ ಬಂದು ನಾನು ಟಿಪ್ಪೂ ಜಯಂತಿ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದಾರೆ.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) December 22, 2017
ನಾವು ಬರೀ ಟಿಪ್ಪೂ ಜಯಂತಿ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ದೇವರ ದಾಸಿಮಯ್ಯ ಅಂಬಿಗರ ಚೌಡಯ್ಯ,ಅಂಬೇಡ್ಕರ್, ಕನಕದಾಸ,ವಾಲ್ಮೀಕಿ,ಕಿತ್ತೂರು ರಾಣಿ, ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡ, ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಜಯಂತಿ ಒಳಗೊಂಡು ಸುಮಾರು 26 ಜಯಂತಿ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇವೆ.
Senior Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao also defended Karnataka’s development, and asked Yogi Adityanath to focus on improving his own state. In a series of tweets highlighting Karnataka’s economic state and the failures of the Uttar Pradesh government, Gundu Rao shifted the focus back to Yogi Adityanath and the BJP.
UP's pathetic healthcare system killed innocent children in Yogi's Gorakhpur but he has the audacity to come to Karnataka and talk about the death of Hindus?#YogiInsultsKarnataka
— Dinesh Gundu Rao (@dineshgrao) December 22, 2017
It is disgusting that Yogi would come to Karnataka, which beats UP(& Gujarat too) hollow in terms of development, to tell us how to run our state.#YogiInsultsKarnataka https://t.co/ozrnyIE6B0
— Dinesh Gundu Rao (@dineshgrao) December 22, 2017
"Do @BJP4Karnataka leaders have any respect towards our state? UP's CM comes to our state, insults our people & these BJP leaders sit on stage & laugh.
— Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) December 22, 2017
Karnataka leads in Investment & Agriculture in the country. Should we learn from UP?": @dineshgrao #YogiInsultsKarnataka pic.twitter.com/1bN8NMeOsr
"Karnataka alone accounts for 19% of FDI in India. Forget UP, even Gujarat isn't close to our state.
— Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) December 22, 2017
Adityanath should focus on improving Uttar Pradesh instead of bad mouthing Karnataka. @BJP4Karnataka leaders are happy with defaming K'taka": @dineshgrao #YogiInsultsKarnataka pic.twitter.com/Bk82Pz6AtT
Accusing the Congress of indulging in divisive politics and dividing the people on caste and religious lines for votes, Adityanath had urged the people to vote BJP back to power in the state, and renew its march on the development path.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier said that the people of Karnataka are “eager to join other states in the country, which are far ahead in terms of development”.
The BJP, which came to power in the state for the first time on its own after the 2008 assembly election, lost to the Congress in the 2013 assembly poll following a split in its state unit with three chief ministers at the helm of office.
Congress and BJP have already begun publicly trading shots over a number of issues with Karnataka set to go to polls in May 2018.
with Inputs from IANS