Karnataka CM denied Ratna Prabha CS post: BS Yeddyurappa

Bengaluru: The state chief of BJP, B.S. Yeddyurappa, contended on Tuesday that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had no right to speak about the welfare of the scheduled castes after refusing to make senior IAS officer, Rathna Prabha, who belongs to the community, the Chief Secretary of the state.  

Inaugurating the BJP SC Morcha executive committee meeting here, he recalled that he had demanded that the Chief Minister make Ms Prabha the Chief Secretary, but she was denied the opportunity and it was time that scheduled caste leaders made the community aware of Mr Siddarmaiah's  "anti- Dalit" stand.

Mr Yeddyurappa also urged his party workers to create public awareness  about the manner in which the Congress party had "ill-treated" stalwarts like Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Babu Jagajeevan Ram. "The Congress has no moral right to speak about the welfare of Dalits in the country," he asserted.

The BJP chief took strong objection  to the remarks of actor, Prakash Raj against the Prime Minister on the murder of senior journalist/activist, Gauri Lankesh. "Nowadays it has become a habit with  a few people to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But I did not expect such remarks from Mr. Raj . How can the Prime Minister do anything about the case? It is the duty of the state government to arrest the culprits. We have also demanded an impartial inquiry into her murder," he added.

Referring to the BJP's proposed Pariyarthana Ratha Yatra, he said it would  kick off on November 2 from two destinations. While one Ratha Yatra would begin  from Bengaluru , another would start from Hubballi. Three programmes would be held in each constituency, he revealed.