I am not a leader of Kurubas: K S Eshwarappa

District In-charge Minister K S Eshwarappa stated that he is not a leader of Kuruba community, but he advocates Hindutva and he will not tolerate if anyone speaks against Hindutva.

Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, he said, former chief minister Siddaramaiah who claims himself as the leader of Kurubas and backward classes, has no support of any community at present. If Siddaramaiah has the support of all Kurubas and backward classes, why Congress lost in the polls. Siddaramaiah deserves the credit of eradicating Congress in Karnataka, he taunted.

Ridiculing the Congress leader, Eshwarappa said: "He should have used the term crossbreed after seeing Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. We use such a term for dogs. Siddaramaiah governed the State as the chief minister for five years. Does not he know the sufferings of Hindu women who became victims of Love Jihad? The population of Muslims is rising in the country due to religions conversion, he alleged.

He said, Siddaramaiah's claim that RSS is behind Kurubas demand for ST tag is far from the truth.

Referring to BJP leader H Vishwanath's attack on the chief minister, he said, the party leaders should not make such statements in public and they should discuss it in the party forum. The Central leaders would resolve the issues and such statements hurt workers, he added.

On the gram panchayat polls, he claimed that BJP has given basic facilities in rural areas. It has given employment through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The BJP would give equal importance to gram panchayat polls and Lok Sabha polls, he stated.