Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, Priyank Kharge rush to Kharge's defence

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and IT and BT minister Priyank Kharge on Wednesday took to Twitter to launch a blistering attack against Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, for his comments on veteran Congress leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge, and the Congress. 

In a detailed rebuttal, the minister said in a democracy the Prime Minister's fate too would be decided by people. "People of Kalaburgi & Karnataka will decide Mr. Kharge's fate. Till then let us discuss Gujarat Model of development v/s Karnataka Model. Great oratory skills can't mask lies for long," read his tweet.

The minister's jibe came after Mr Modi said in his reply in Lok Sabha that the outcome of Assembly polls in Karnataka would decide Mr Kharge's fate and that his speech on Wednesday could be his farewell address.  The minister pointed out that while the Prime Minister invoked Basavanna, Lingayats would be keen to hear his views on the demand for a separate religion as and when the state government recommends it, adding "Great to hear the PM speak on Basavanna. Now it is time to #WalkTheTalk.  Will he & his party still change the constitution which stands for everyone or they want only a Hindu Rashtra? "Sabka saath sabka vikas" is only for speeches?" he asked. 

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Kannadigas would be thankful if he followed Basavanna's teachings. "PM @narendramodi. It was good of you to have remembered me in the Parliament today. I am glad you also remembered Basavanna," the Chief Minister said adding  "Basava said "those with wealth will build  temples; what do I do, a poor man? Kannadigas will thank you  sir if you could follow Basavanna's teachings." 

Mr Siddaramaiah also hit out at Mr Modi over completion of Bidar-Kalaburgi rail project, tweeting that Karnataka was the first state to develop railways thro' 50:50 cost sharing. The Bidar-Kalaburgi line was developed at a cost of Rs 1542 cr. Karnataka Govt has released Rs 691 crores for this project since 2007. 70% of this (Rs 488 cr) was released by our Govt since 2013 #JustFacts.

Joining issue with leaders, Karnataka Congress @INC Karnataka launched #ModiLies again campaign on its twitter handle and tweeted that the Vajpayee government  allocated a meagre Rs. 55 crore. The project was delayed because @BSYBJP's Govt did not complete Land Acquisition. CM @Siddaramaiah's Govt not only funded 50% of the Project, but also funded the entire land acquisition & completed the project.

During his reply to the discussion on the motion of thanks to President's address,  Mr Modi reminded Mr  Kharge that in 12th century during Jagadguru Basaveshwara's time, work had begun to establish democracy. "Kharge ji, you come from Karnataka, at the most you may get a place to sit here by showing devotion to one family after Karnataka elections, but don't insult Jagadguru  Basaveshwara," he said. "You should be knowing, you come from Karnataka that it was  Basaveshwara who during 12th century through a concept of Anabhava Mantapa thought about taking decisions in a democratic way," he said.