Love jihad a priority, not ‘small issues’ like roads, drains: Karnataka BJP chief Nalin Kumar Kateel

“So I told them not to talk about roads, gutters, drains and other small issues…. If the issue concerning your children’s lives — love jihad — has to be stopped, then we need the BJP (to form the government),” he told party workers.

Tweeting a video of Kateel’s speech, the Karnataka Congress posted from its handle on Monday (translated from Kannada): “…Development of the state, employment and education are minor issues! It’s shameful that BJP has asked its party workers not to talk about development, of which it has done little.”

Addressing BJP workers on Monday, Kateel alleged that the PFI was running riot in the state before it was banned. The BJP leader alleged that the group had planned a “series of murders”, targetting Hindu activists. “Had the PFI not been banned, today we wouldn’t have BJP leaders Monappa Bhandary and Hari Krishna Bantwal (of Dakshina Kannada) on stage. MLA Vedavyas Kamath would not have been here. There would have only been a garland over their photos,” he maintained.

On December 31, Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah had said in Bengaluru that for the people of Karnataka, the Assembly polls are a choice between those who developed Hindu places of worship such as Ayodhya and Badrinath and those who glorify Tipu Sultan.