Poojari and Sunil should’ve resigned if they had any self respect: D.K. Shivakumar

Removal of reference to Narayana Guru from the text book another instance of BJP’s hatred towards backward classes, he says

Stoking the controversy over removal of reference of Narayana Guru from Class 10 text book and citing the Billava pride, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday said that Ministers Kota Srinivas Poojari and V. Sunil Kumar should have resigned over the issue if they had any self respect.

He was speaking at the felicitation to Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council B.K. Hariprasad and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly U.T. Khader organised by the Dakshina Kanadda DCC here. Though they belong to the Billava community, remaining in power was paramount for the two instead of protesting the removal of the reference to the Guru, who advocated universal brotherhood and equality, Mr. Shivakumar said.

“Let them remove references to social reformers or add their own. Congress will come to power next and reverse all these changes,” he said.

Karnataka once had as many as six Members of Parliament from Mr. Hariprasad’s community, including B. Janardhana Poojari, Mr. Hariprasad, Devaraya Naik and others. “Where is the representation to the community these days,” he wondered.

Mr. Shivakumar said that the party would bring out a separate poll manifesto for the coastal districts focusing in the overall development of the region and all communities. “I have got a survey conducted across the State and am confident of winning more than 10 seats from DK and Udupi in the next assembly elections. BJP also got a survey conducted and is aware of this fact,” he said.

While the Congress brought in mega projects, creating jobs and introduced progressive legislation including the RTI, the RTE, the Food Security Act etc., the BJP was busy introducing divisive legislation including the Anti Conversion Bill etc., Mr. Shivakumar lambasted. In the past eight years of BJP rule at the Centre, none of its promises, including doubling farmers’ income, creating lakhs of employment etc., were fulfilled. Instead, people were being burdened with constant price rise, he said.

On the other hand, the BJP government in Karnataka is indulging in unbridled corruption. “I was also the minister for Energy and recruited over 30,000 people. There was not an iota of allegation,” he said referring to the recent PSI recruitment scam and said the big fish were still at large in the PSI scam.