Spat between Siddaramaiah, BJP leaders turns uglier

The war of words between Siddaramaiah and the State BJP leaders turned uglier on Thursday with BJP general secretary C T Ravi accusing the chief minister of suffering from physical and mental illness.

The retaliation from the BJP came a day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Hitler.

Addressing a press conference here, Ravi charged that Siddaramaiah constantly falling asleep at meetings indicated that he suffered from ill-health. Now that he equated the country’s prime minister to Hitler, also indicated that he suffered mental illness, Ravi charged.

Ravi said Siddaramaiah should undergo treatment and the BJP was ready to bear the expenses. This in itself was a matter of prestige for the State. Siddaramaiah should have tendered his resignation soon after the Congress debacle in the Lok Sabha polls. “Unable to digest Modi’s popularity, he was making baseless allegations,” he said.

Reacting to Ravi’s comments, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that he stood by his remarks of likening Modi to Hitler. Speaking to the reporters, he said, “I still stand by my comments. Modi has centralised all the power to himself and was not giving any opportunity to his Cabinet colleagues. I made the remarks in this context.”

He further said: “Ravi lacks political maturity and still has a lot to learn.”

Siddaramaiah added that the under the leadership of Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, the Congress Coordination Committee meeting will be held on August 26, wherein the State Cabinet expansion, among others issues, will be discussed.