Chittapur ‘confinement’ row: ‘It was natural public response to unprovoked criminal remarks’, says Sharan Prakash Patil

Medical Education Minister defends Congress activists' actions against BJP leader, denouncing BJP's protests as personal vendettas against Kharges.

Justifying the actions of Congress activists’ confrontation with BJP leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy at Chittapur in Kalaburagi district on Wednesday (May 21, 2025), Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil described the incident not as an “illegal and wrongful confinement”, as claimed by the BJP, but as a “natural public reaction to his criminal remarks”.

Speaking at a press conference at the Congress party office in Kalaburagi on May 25, Mr. Patil said Mr. Narayanaswamy had likened Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge to a dog without provocation.

“Mr. Narayanaswamy made the offensive comment in Kalaburagi and then proceeded to visit Chittapur – the constituency represented by Mr. Priyank. Naturally, the people who had elected Mr. Priynak were aggrieved and demanded an apology. They stopped Mr. Narayanaswamy at the government guest house, but there was no attack, nor was there any wrongful confinement. Was he expecting a grand welcome with garlands after such deeply offensive remarks?” Mr. Patil said.

Dismissing the BJP’s ‘Kalaburagi Chalo’ agitation held on May 24 in protest against Mr. Priynak as a “ridiculous uproar,” Mr. Patil said that the BJP leaders had lost their ability to differentiate between right and wrong.

“In this episode, the real victim is Mr. Priyank, not Mr. Narayanaswamy. Comparing an elected representative to a dog is an insult not just to Mr Priyank but also to the position of the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council that Mr. Narayanaswamy held. It is a criminal act that has put the BJP in an embarrassing position. Instead of holding Mr. Narayanaswamy accountable and removing him from his post as Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, the BJP is shockingly demanding Mr Priyank’s resignation. This inversion of justice only proves that the BJP leadership has lost its moral compass and the ability to distinguish between right and wrong,” Mr Patil said.

Responding to former minister B. Sriramulu’s claim during the ‘Kalaburagi Chalo’ agitation that the Kharges were trying to create a “Kalaburagi Republic”, Mr Patil retorted sharply: “It is laughable to hear such accusations from a man who was complicit with those who plundered Ballari and created a ‘Ballari Republic’ and even serving jail time for it. Such baseless allegations against the Kharges in Kalaburagi carry no weight.”

Mr. Patil further alleged that the BJP’s protests in Kalaburagi had nothing to do with public welfare. “The BJP has organised four separate agitations here in the last couple of years, and none of them was concerning the real issues faced by the people. They have all been aimed personally at the Kharges. When the BJP was in power, it ignored Kalaburagi and Kalyana Karnataka. Not one ministerial berth was given to Kalaburagi. Now, they appear only to indulge in political vendettas,” Mr Patil said.