Modi 'incapable of defending, upholding India's sovereignty'; he must stepdown: Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Terming the US waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil for 30 days as "deeply humiliating", Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to step down, as he accused him of repeatedly demonstrating that "he is incompetent and incapable" of defending India's sovereignty.
Siddaramaiah said, while RSS-BJP leaders keep demanding that the words "secular" and "socialist" be removed from the Constitution, under their rule, "sovereignty" itself appears to have been removed in practice.
"Narendra Modi has demonstrated again and again that he is incompetent and incapable of defending and upholding India's sovereignty and dignity. For the good of the nation, he must step down," Siddaramaiah posted on 'X'.
"It is deeply humiliating that the United States is now openly saying it will allow India to buy Russian oil for 30 days. No foreign government should ever be in a position to grant or deny India permission to run its economy. Yet this is the situation India finds itself in under Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.
Amid the escalating conflict with Iran, the US recently said it is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil.
Meanwhile, hitting back at Siddaramaiah, state BJP President B Y Vijayendra said, it is unfortunate that a sitting chief minister has reduced himself to the level of a full-time troll, desperately competing with one of his own prank-specialist ministers for social media attention.
Claiming that it increasingly feels as if India's capital is not New Delhi, but Washington DC, Siddaramaiah said in his post that Donald Trump speaks like the acting Prime Minister of India, while Narendra Modi appears reduced to a puppet who merely follows instructions.
"A prime minister of a sovereign republic cannot allow such a situation to arise," he said.
Noting that the pattern is impossible to ignore, the CM pointed out that Trump repeatedly claims credit for the Operation Sindoor ceasefire, yet we have heard no strong rebuttal from PM Modi.
"The United States tells India not to buy Iranian oil, and the Modi government complies. Pressure is applied on Russian oil imports - India reduces them. Now the United States announces that Indian refineries are allowed to buy Russian oil for only 30 days," he said.
Stating that the "continuous and meek surrender" to the United States makes his and his party's earlier doubts look increasingly true, Siddaramaiah said, "The Adani investigation and the Epstein files - where Narendra Modi's closest allies are entangled - appear to have been weaponised by Donald Trump and used as a tool to blackmail India. So much for the hollow claims of making India a Vishwaguru".
The CM further said India must speak with its own voice in the world. At a time when the world is torn by war and bloodshed, India must show moral leadership and independent thinking, guided by its own history.
In his retort, Vijayendra said this is not the UPA era, when the government functioned as a "remote-controlled establishment" under Congress top leader Sonia Gandhi, "readily surrendering India's sovereign interests at the slightest pressure from Washington."
"The world has not forgotten how the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton openly confirmed that India had reduced oil imports from Iran under American pressure - that too in the presence of the UPA's own external affairs minister. Few moments in India's diplomatic history have been more humiliating or revealing," the state BJP chief said.
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Sabarimala gold loss: How did the accused reach Rahul's home, asks Vijayan
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday hit back at Rahul Gandhi for targeting the ruling CPI(M) over the Sabarimala gold loss case during a poll campaign, questioning how the accused in the case had managed to reach the Congress leader's home.
The Marxist veteran was apparently referring to a widely circulated purported photograph in which the prime accused in the Sabarimala gold loss cases, Unnikrishnan Potty, accompanied by some senior Congress leaders, was seen with Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi.
He also said people have already given a reply to Rahul, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on this matter.
The CM's reaction came a day after Rahul sang a line from a popular parody song about CPI(M) leaders' alleged roles in the gold theft at the Sabarimala temple while addressing a corner meeting as part of the assembly polls campaign in Pathanamthitta district.
As he sang the line "swarnam kattathu aarappa" (who stole the gold of Ayyappa) from a song used by the Congress-led UDF to target the ruling Left during the local body polls a few months ago, at the meeting in Pathanamthitta -- the district where the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa is located-- the crowd cheered Rahul.
Soon after Gandhi targeted the Left party over the gold loss issue, CPI (M) activists began a social media campaign making allegations against his mother and former party chief Sonia Gandhi in connection with the matter.
While replying to a question regarding this, CM Vijayan said the Congress leader already got a befitting reply and should he also repeat the same.
"If he thinks about how all those who were involved in the stealing had reached his home...then he will get a reply. Anyway, we don't have any such flaws," Vijayan added.
Attacking the Left and the BJP over the Sabarimala gold loss issue, Rahul Gandhi on Monday had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had forgotten about what happened in Sabarimala, during his visit to Palakkad as part of election campaign.
Rahul claimed that the prime minister remained silent to avoid damaging the LDF.
He had also said that a UDF government would ensure that those responsible for alleged irregularities related to the temple are punished.
