Karnataka BJP challenges Congress for open debate

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka launched a frontal attack on the Congress for the latter’s forked-tongue approach on Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Addressing a press conference here, Member of the Parliament (MP) and BJP general secretary Shobha Karandlaje challenged the country’s oldest party to come for an open debate on any forum on these two issues.

“The NPR was initiated by the UPA-II in 2009 as a preparation for the 2011 Census which is a statutory requirement. The then Home Minister P Chidambaram had said that NPR is a prelude for NRC. But now the Congress has made a complete U-Turn on these two issues,” she pointed out.

Charging the Congress party of misleading and instigating the minority community, especially the Muslims for its political ends, the MP said that the Opposition is desperately trying to “polarise the polity on religious and communal grounds” in order to survive in politics, she alleged.

Karandlaje said that the “peace-loving, sane and sober” Muslim community of Mangaluru had nothing to do with the violence, and the arson and looting in Kashmiri Fidayeen-style is the handiwork of the workers of PFI and KFD.

She squarely blamed former CM Siddaramaiah for the present situation where the KFD and PFI workers were having a field day. “The Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah withdrew 145 cases filed against PFI and 45 cases filed against KFD. In fact, Congress leader and former minister Tanveer Sait was stabbed by PFI activist. Siddaramaiah owes an explanation to the people of the state on this matter,” Karandlaje said.