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Karnataka BJP leader Basangouda Patil Yatnal drove headfirst into the raging name calling controversy when on Thursday, he asked whether Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was a “vishakanya” and called Rahul Gandhi mad, while attacking AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge for his “poisonous snake” remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at a rally in Yelburga on Thursday evening, he also alleged that Sonia Gandhi was an agent of China and Pakistan.
“What words did the Congress national president use for the Prime Minister? The world has accepted PM Modi… who has emerged as a world leader… and he is being compared to a cobra… If so, is Sonia Gandhi a vishakanya?… She is working as an agent of China and Pakistan,” the MLA, who is infamous for his controversial remarks, said in his speech. Vishakanya means “poison maiden”, and is used to refer to young women used as assassins in the past.
In another part of the speech, while hailing Modi’s efforts to thwart terrorism, he called Rahul Gandhi “huccha (mad)”, while describing the Yelburga Congress candidate Basavaraj Rayareddy as “tikka (mental)”. “We have huccha Rahul Gandhi there, (and) tikka Rayareddy here,” he said.
The statements came on the day when Kharge was cornered by the ruling BJP for calling Modi a ‘poisonous snake’. Kharge had expressed regret later, saying he was targeting the BJP-RSS ideology, not any individual.
AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, reacted sharply, tweeting that BJP leaders in Karnataka had “lost their mental and political balance. Instructed by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and supported by Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, BJP leader and Modi ji’s personal favourite, Shri Basangouda Patil Yatnal has stooped to the lowest by calling UPA chairperson and former Congress president, Smt Sonia Gandhi as “Visha Kanye” and “Agent of China and Pakistan”,” he tweeted, adding that it was the “worst kind of sacrilege and abuse” hurled upon Sonia Gandhi and Congress leaders.
“PM Modi himself has, in the past, called Smt Sonia Gandhi “Congress ki vidhwa (Congress’s widow)” and used filthy language like “Jersey Cow” about her,” he recalled, demanding an expulsion of Yatnal from the BJP if the PM had “even an iota of decency and dignity”.
AICC general secretary (organisation) and Rajya Sabha MP K C Venugopal also tweeted, “Every election, they hurl new abuses to insult Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji, who has led her entire life with utmost dignity and grace. BJP continues to stoop to new lows, with their filthy language against our leaders. Modi ji, do you endorse these words? Yadha raja thada Praja.”
