After Union minister’s dig, Kumaraswamy’s retort: ‘ Pralhad Joshi cultureless … RSS choice to be next CM’

On the dispute in the Gowda family over the Hassan Assembly seat, Joshi said, “They said the party high command will decide (on the seat). But where is the high command? They are the high command, they fight, and do draamebaazi. They cannot live together being from the same family.”

On Sunday, the former Karnataka chief minister lashed out at the Union minister, saying, “There is a ploy by the RSS to make Joshi the CM once the elections are over. The reason for that is that he does not represent the south Indian Brahmin traditions. There are two to three (different) kinds of Brahmins. He (Joshi) hails from the Peshwa community that destroyed the idol at Sringeri mutt (and) belongs to the group that killed Mahatma Gandhi. He is not a Brahmin of the old Karnataka region. The RSS has already decided to make him the next CM. That is why he has started attacking us,” he said.

Joshi, he said, belonged to the Deshastha Brahmin community that was “not from Karnataka”. “He hails from the Peshwa community of Maharashtra. They are cultureless, (and) do not need culture,” said the former CM. The Deshastha Brahmin community, Kumaraswamy added, was “unlike the Brahmin communities of the old Karnataka region who believed in the principle of Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavantu (May everyone be well)”.

He added: “This community only wants to divide the nation, indulge in conspiratorial politics and eliminate those who have contributed towards the development of the nation. I request Veerashaivas (Lingayats), Vokkaligas, Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and Dalits not to fall for the ploy by the BJP and the RSS. They will divide the state by making someone like him CM. Under him, there will be eight Deputy CMs. A meeting to this effect was already held by RSS leaders.”