B S Yeddyurappa to CM Siddaramaiah: Why harp on my jail stint?

Raichur: Expressing his ire over the repeated assertions by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that he had no right to come to power as he had gone to jail, State BJP President B.S. Yeddyurappa remarked that it was akin to the "devil quoting the scriptures".

At a media conference here, Mr Yeddyuappa said Mr Siddaramaiah being a lawyer should know that the court had aquitted him of all charges in the cases in which he was sent to jail. The BJP leader countered the Chief Minister's statement asking if former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi too had not gone to jail? "Moreover Mr Siddaramaiah has conveniently forgotten that his own party leaders Rajiv Gandhi and Oscar Fernandes had taken bail to avoid jail sentences", he quipped, declaring he would send Mr Siddaraiah to jail after investigating the various corrupt deals the Congress government had struck after the BJP comes to power.

Mr Yeddyurappa also ridiculed the statement by Mr Siddaramaiah that the Congress government was spending Rs 3,000 crore every year for the last three years to develop the backward districts as per the recommendations of the Dr Nanjundappa Committee report. "On the contrary this government has spent only Rs 9 crore. Moreover this government has totally failed to properly implement Article 371(J) to provide justice to the backward H-K region", he added.

Mr Yediyurappa also remarked it was unbecoming of a CM to deride his visits to Dalit colonies to have breakfast with them. "The Congress which insulted Dr Ambedkar and which has only used Dalits as vote banks has no moral right to criticise my visits", he observed.