JOIN USBJP leader raises issue of a Columbian woman with Rahul
Flaying AICC Vice President Rahul Gandhi and the Congress leaders of criticising BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on the controversy over his marital status, BJP’s candidate for Kasargod Surendran has sought an explanation from Rahul over his two days stay with an unidentified woman in a guest house in Kerala a decade ago.
Speaking to mediapersons at the BJP’s election office on Monday, Surendran said that Rahul Gandhi has no moral right to question Modi on his marital status. “Rahul had stayed with a woman from Columbia at a guest house in Kumarakom in Kottayam district on December 29 and 30, 2003. Let Rahul and Sonia Gandhi give explanation about the girl, her whereabouts and Rahul’s relationship with her,” he demanded.
Surendran, who is also the BJP’s Kerala State General Secretary, termed ‘terrorism’ as one common factor bothering both Mangalore and Kerala. Mangalore and Kerala have become the breeding ground for terrorists. The UPA has developed a soft corner towards terrorists and has failed to control the menace, he said.
He also hoped that the areca issue bothering areca growers in Karnataka and Kerala could be solved if the BJP comes to power. With fishermen facing hurdles in fishing, the satellite based technology of identifying fish base in the sea which has ben introduced in Gujarat has to be implemented in all the coastal states, Surendran said.
He expressed confidence of the BJP winning two seats in Kerala - in Kasargod and in Thiruvananthapuram.
‘Welfare of minorities’
Rubbishing the allegations that the BJP does not favour minority communities, Karnataka State Minority Development Corporation former chairman Aboobakkar N B has said that the BJP government in the State and the Centre had contributed for the welfare of minority communities, when the party was in power.
In a separate press meet, Aboobakkar scorned at the Congress for introducing welfare schemes for minority communities for political gains. “The State government introduced Shaadi Bhagya scheme for 1000 Muslim women. But, why is the benefit given only to a few selected girls, when a large number of poor Muslim women exist in the State. The Congress did not take an initiative to establish Haj Ghar. It was the BJP that sanctioned the fund and reserved land for the purpose in Bangalore,” he said.
Further, he said that Wakf and Haj Minister Qamar-ul-Islam has visited only four districts in the last 10 months of taking charge. Where was Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader, when the violence broke out in Ullal? His phone was not reachable throughout the day, Aboobakkar blamed.