Karnataka Congress leader, wife slam BJP MP’s remark

A Congress leader in Karnataka and his wife have objected to comments about their inter-religion marriage made by a BJP MP. Working president of Congress in Karnataka Dinesh Gundu Rao and his wife Tabassum objected to BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje “politicising” their marriage at a BJP protest rally over the murder of an RSS worker in Mangaluru last week.

Reacting to a suggestion by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at a rally that BJP leaders should marry Dalits to enable their uplift, Karandlaje, a close associate of state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa, had stated that “everyone knows who the state Congress working president has married”. The MP asked why the Congress leader had not married a Dalit as suggested by the CM.

Karandlaje’s remark came after Siddaramaiah criticised BJP leaders for resorting to “gimmicks” like eating at the homes of Dalits.