BJP-JD(S) attack Congress over Belagavi centenary event; posters stir row

The BJP attacked the Congress for installing cutouts of a “distorted map of India” and announced a protest on Friday against the “misuse of state funds” for the program. Sharing pictures of some posters at Belagavi, the BJP accused the Congress of showing “utter disrespect for India’s sovereignty by displaying a distorted map at their Belagavi event, portraying Kashmir as part of Pakistan. All this just to appease their vote bank. This is shameful!”

@INCKarnataka, has shown utter disrespect for India’s sovereignty by displaying a distorted map at their Belagavi event, portraying Kashmir as part of Pakistan. All this just to appease their vote bank. This is shameful!#CongressInsultsIndia #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/ql9JG73Dm9

— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) December 26, 2024

BJP Karnataka president B Y Vijayendra, who held a news conference Thursday, said the party unit would stage a protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Bengaluru against the Congress government policy of spending hundreds of crores for the event. The Congress in existence today is a ‘fake Congress’, he said, alleging that it had abandoned the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr B R Ambedkar.

H D Kumaraswamy, Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, also criticised the Congress government, saying that ‘fake Gandhis’ were flaunting themselves in Belagavi at the taxpayers’ expense.

As part of the two-day conference, an extended Congress Working Committee meeting was held on Thursday. A massive public rally is slated to be held on Friday.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Mandya, Kumaraswamy said that although the Congress government was planning programs under Mahatma Gandhi’s name next year and was spending crores on Gandhi centenary events, “I did not see Mahatma Gandhi’s photo anywhere in the posters at the event. Instead, massive cutouts of fake Gandhis have been put up.”