Lingayat issue closed chapter for Cong: KPCC

BIDAR: KPCC President Dinesh Gundu Rao on Sunday termed separate religion tag for Lingayats as a closed chapter.

“The issue is a closed chapter now. It is now left to the government and Lingayats. The Congress party has nothing to do with it,” he told reporters.

On Minister for Environment and Forests Satish Jarkiholi’s reported remarks against Brahmins, Rao said that he wasn’t aware of the Minister’s remarks.

“The remarks should be condemned if they are really made by the Minister,” he said.

Referring to the 2008 Malegaon blasts accused and BJP nominee from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s statement on IPS officer Hemanth Karkare, who was killed in Mumbai terror attack, Rao said that the BJP should have expelled her from the party.

“The BJP is misleading the country by distancing itself from the statement terming it as her personal stand. The saffron party that speaks about patriotism has fielded a candidate facing the charge of terrorism which is anti-national stand,” he charged.

Rao alleged that the BJP sidelined the issue of development and made nationalism and patriotism as poll issues.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi hasn’t so far responded to flawed GST system, Pulwama terror attack and failure in employment generation,” he charged.

There was no more trust on the autonomous bodies in the country as the BJP had misused them. The BJP should be defeated to preserve the Constitution, he said.

Gao said:”BJP doesn’t respect social justice. The party hasn’t fielded candidates from minority and backward communities.”

Rao expressed confidence that the UPA government would be voted to power for the third time.