I always opposed Aadhaar project: Ananth Kumar

BJP candidate for Bangalore South and party National General Secretary Ananth Kumar on Friday said he had opposed the Aadhaar project in the Lok Sabha in 2010 and rubbished his opponent Nandan Nilekani’s claim that he (Ananth Kumar) was trying to gain political mileage by abusing the project.

Speaking to reporters in Bangalore, Kumar said he had exposed the flaws in the Aadhaar project while participating in a debate in Parliament in 2010. 

The Lok Sabha was disrupted for two days due to the uproar generated by the debate, he claimed. Kumar said Aadhaar was a threat to the sovereignty and security of the country and that he stood by his stand.

Kumar and Nilekani have been engaged in a war of words over the Aadhaar project.

Nilekani has complained to the Election Commission and the Press Council of India stating that Kumar was attacking Aadhaar to draw attention away from his lack of achievements as an MP. He has alleged that Kumar has been using a Kannada daily and a TV channel to carry on a misinformation campaign.

Party erred

On Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik contesting against him in Bangalore South, Kumar said everybody had the right to contest polls in a democracy. “However, the people will decide the winning candidate,” he said.

Kumar said the State unit had erred by inducting Muthalik into the party and the central leadership had intervened to rectify the mistake. Muthalik was admitted to the BJP earlier this week, but his membership was cancelled within a few hours.

Kumar said Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Karnataka will prove to be the “swing states” for the BJP and the party will win a majority of the seats from these states helping it come to power at the Centre.