JOIN USA day after several litterateurs, including Jnanpith awardees U R Ananthamurthy and Girish Karnad came out in support of the Congress, the State BJP on Friday dubbed them “shouting brigade” of the party.
Addressing a press conference in Bangalore, State BJP spokesperson Suresh Kumar said the litterateurs were acting more loyal than the workers of the Congress.
“Every person has the right to support the political party of his or herchoice. But, is it right on the part of the litterateurs to question the popularity of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and act like a shouting brigade,” Kumar asked.
Besides Ananthamurthy and Karnad, litterateurs such as Vasundhara Bhupathi, K Marulasiddappa, G K Govindarao and S G Siddaramaiah had declared their support to the Congress and had criticised the style of functioning of Modi at a press conference in Bangalore on Thursday.
Kumar wondered whether litterateurs should act like the praise brigade who were appointed by the kings in their royal courts of the past.
He pointed out that former prime minister Indira Gandhi had adopted the slogan “Garibi Hatao” in 1971. “Congress was in power for 30 years since the slogan was coined. However, there has been no change in the status of the people. Should the litterateurs support a party that is using the poor as its vote bank ?,” Kumar sought to know.
BJP MLC Ashwathnarayana lashed out at Kannada Development Authority Chairperson “Mukyamantri” Chandru for “changing his colour” after joining the Congress.
Chandru had recently quit the BJP to join the Congress. Ashwathnarayana alleged that during the tenure of Chandru as KDA chairman, he had sanctioned most of the printing projects to a particular printing press and sought a Lokayukta probe into the mater. The government had released Rs five crore to the KDA during the last years but no quality work had been implemented, he charged.