BJP accuses HDK of abusing media

The state BJP Tuesday accused Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of openly threatening and abusing journalists in the state and advised him to listen to his “friend” Rahul Gandhi, the Congress president.

The BJP was reacting to a tweet by Rahul against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the action against scribes in his state. The saffron party listed out incidents of police action against some journalists in Karnataka.

“Your CM @hd_kumaraswamy openly threatens & abuses journalists. Journalist Santosh Thammaiah arrested for speaking against atrocity of Tippu. FIR filed on
@VishweshwarBhat for reporting on CM’s sons behaviour. You’re exactly how a human version of ‘hypocrisy’ would look like,” it tweeted in a reply to Rahul.

“@hd_kumaraswamy anna, your friend @rahulgandhi thinks you are behaving foolishly by arresting people who are posting memes or writing blogs against you. But he is scared to name you, fearing that you will pull the plug & his party will be out of power in Karnataka! Listen to him,” the BJP said in a tweet.

The AICC president had earlier in the day criticised the arrest of scribe Prashant Kanojia and an editor and a head of a Noida-based TV channel, saying Adityanath is behaving “foolishly” and he should release the journalists.

“If every journalist who files a false report or peddles fake, vicious RSS/BJP sponsored propaganda about me is put in jail, most newspapers/news channels would face a severe staff shortage. The UP CM is behaving foolishly & needs to release the arrested journalists,” Rahul had tweeted.

Kumaraswamy, who is heading the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, had recently declared that he was ‘boycotting’ the media, apparently upset over the coverage of the Mandya Lok Sabha polls, where his son Nikhil had contested and lost.

Reacting to the BJP, the JD(S) tweeted, “@BJP4Karnataka So you’re accepting that you and your supporters peddle fake news & end up in jail? Must be pretty tough acknowledging it. Next step is, understanding peddling fake news with malicious intention is not FoE. Third step is, Stop. Peddling. Fake. News!”