'Siddu should apologise for cheap remarks on Savarkar'

Udupi-Chikmagalur MP Shobha Karandlaje on Thursday demanded an unconditional apology from former chief minister Siddaramaiah for making cheap remarks on Veer Savarkar.

She was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of ‘Gandhi Sankalp Yatra’.

Countering Siddharamiah who had described Savarkar as a murderer, Shobha described Savarkar as a patriot and a freedom fighter.The MP said Savarkar was jailed and tortured in Andaman. Savarkar’s family was dedicated to the freedom struggle. She accused Siddaramaiah of being calculative and said he had ignored Savarkar’s sacrifice to indulge in cheap politics.

“Siddaramaiah humiliated a freedom fighter and thus should apologise to the nation,” she said and added that nation does not need any sort of certificate for Savarkar from Siddaramaiah.

The MP accused Congress of twisting the country’s history and said children are ignorant of freedom fighters’ and their sacrifices. “So competitions for students in schools and colleges will be held as part of ‘Gandhi Sankalp Yatra’ to highlight the struggles of our leaders.”

On the poll results in Maharashtra and Haryana states, she said party had done good work and Maharashtra had acknowledged it by voting party back to power. On Congress workers celebrating after D K Shivakumar’s release from Tihar jail, she said cases were still pending against him in courts. There is no meaning in celebrations as he is not a freedom fighter, she said.