With the run-up to bye-elections in two assembly seats in Karnataka on October 30, political discourse seems to have hit a new low as top leaders have been making personal attacks on each other and no one seems to be worried. After BS Yediyurappa resigned to make way for Basavaraj Bommai in July-end, Karnataka politics was quiet for over two months but now it’s back in action.
Karnataka BJP president and Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel called Congress leader Rahul Gandhi a “drug addict” and “peddler” at a public meeting a couple of days ago. All hell broke loose, and top leaders of the state Congress hit back at him calling Kateel “a mentally unsound person who should be sent to a mental asylum”.
While BJP leaders defended Kateel over the allegations against Rahul Gandhi, Youth Congress took out a protest march and burnt his effigy.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Congress’ social media handle stirred up a storm by calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi an “illiterate” by using the hashtag #hebbetmodi, that means someone who uses a thump impression. After a vehement protest and counter attack by the BJP, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar apologised for the tweet and said he had a belief that public discourse should be civil. But much harm was already done.
Not learning any lesson from his Rahul Gandhi remarks, Kateel went after Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, and accused him of practising “bigamy”. State BJP’s tweet read, “Signal jump, breach of trust, corruption, nepotism and more than anything else bigamy. Should HD Kumaraswamy, who always ridicules mistakes of others, not be careful about these things?”
An incensed Kumaraswamy hit back at Kateel, calling him a “waste” and even threatened to “expose him”. “I know everything about his (Kateel) personal life. I will expose him,” Kumaraswamy said.
“Since BJP is a total failure when it comes to governance and economy, it is trying to deflect the public attention from real issues,” Kumaraswamy added.
A turncoat minister, Dr K Sudhakar, added some fuel to the fire, accusing senior Congress MLA and former Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar of corruption and hypocrisy. He even threatened to send him to jail.
Yediyurappa, who is campaigning for the BJP in Hanagal and Sindgi bye-elections next week, tried to restore the sanctity of political discourse by condemning his state party chief’s remarks against Rahul Gandhi. He told media, “What Kateel has said is wrong and is in poor taste. No one should say such things. I respect Rahul Gandhi. I will speak to Kateel and ask him to refrain from making such remarks in the future”.
Chief minister Bommai, who will face a litmus test in the October 30 bypolls, refused to entertain questions about the free fall of political discourse. However, his statement almost defending the “moral policing” has kicked up yet another controversy.
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