Priyanka Gandhi's arrogance to compare Gandhi family with Lord Ram: Anurag Thakur
New Delhi (PTI): Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday hit out Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, saying it was out of "arrogance" that she compared the Gandhi family with the dynasty of Lord Ram.
While addressing a rally on Sunday to protest the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as a member of Lok Sabha, Priyanka Gandhi had criticised the BJP for labelling the Congress as a "dynastic" party.
"They (the BJP) accuse us of dynasticism then what was Lord Ram? He was exiled but still fulfilled his responsibilities towards his family and motherland. Was this dynasticism? Did the Pandavas indulge in dynasticism," she had asked.
The senior BJP leader said there can be nothing more unfortunate than the comparisons drawn between Lord Ram and the Gandhi family.
"Hey Prabhu (Oh God.). India only had to wait to see this day. A family which believes it is above India's democracy, above Parliament, above the country. That family is equating itself with Lord Ram," said the information and broadcasting minister.
"This arrogance of the brother and sister. The entire nation is watching. Let alone the country, now they are not even sparing Lord Ram," Thakur said while responding to questions from reporters outside Parliament on Priyanka Gandhi's remarks at the rally.
Earlier, hitting out at Rahul Gandhi, Thakur said the Congress leader can never be Veer Savarkar even in his "best dreams" as it required strong determination and love for the country.
Thakur was responding to repeated assertions by Rahul Gandhi that Savarkar was an "apologist" of the British colonisers and that he would never express any regret for criticising the BJP-led government.
"Dear Shri Gandhi, you can never be SAVARKAR even in your best dreams because being Savarkar requires strong determination, love for Bharat, selflessness and commitment," the senior BJP leader said on Twitter on Sunday.
Rahul Gandhi can never be Savarkar even by a long shot because the freedom fighter neither travelled abroad for six months of the year nor sought help from foreigners against his country, Thakur said.
"He went to Britain to launch a movement to free Mother India from the chains of slavery," the information and broadcasting minister said and added that it is time to "expose lie master Rahul Gandhi for his non-stop nonsense against Veer Savarkar ji".
Thakur also posted on Twitter a letter written by former prime minister Indira Gandhi on the occasion of the birth centenary of Savarkar.
"Veer Savarkar's daring defiance of the British government has its own important place in the annals of our freedom movement. I wish success to the plans to celebrate the birth centenary of this remarkable son of India," Indira Gandhi had written in her letter dated May 20, 1980.
Thakur said the central government had released a documentary on Savarkar during the tenure of Indira Gandhi as prime minister to "acknowledge his valour, sacrifice, and selfless service to the nation".
The minister also shared excerpts from "Bhagat Singh's Jail Notebook" in which the revolutionary freedom fighter had made notes from books authored by Savarkar.
Even the Congress at its Kakinada Session in 1923 had passed resolutions supporting Savarkar, the BJP leader said. He said Indira Gandhi had even issued a postal stamp to acknowledge the contribution of Savarkar to the freedom movement.
"Just imagine, a person whose grandmother had honoured the great personality Veer Savarkar and none of the great men of that era have spoken ill about him. By saying all these things Rahul Gandhi is not insulting Savarkar but his grandmother, Netaji Bose, Bhagat Singh and even (Mahatma) Gandhiji," Thakur said.
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Congress standing with CM Siddaramaiah, will support him, says party President Kharge
Bengaluru (PTI): Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said the party is standing with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and will support him as he faces a probe by Lokayukta police in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case.
Rejecting BJP's demand for Siddaramaiah's resignation, he noted that "neither a chargesheet is filed, nor he is convicted," and said, "let the law take its own course, and when a situation comes, the party will examine."
"When the Godhra incident happened, whether (Narendra) Modi ji had resigned (as the then Gujarat CM)? Several cases were also pending against him at that time, even against Mr Shah (Union Home Minister Amit Shah)," Kharge said in response to a question on BJP questioning CM's moral right to continue, with FIR slated to be registered against him.
Speaking to reporters here, he said: "Don't target a particular person to damage his image, through him the party will also be damaged. Your (BJP) interest is to damage the Congress party, not the individual. He may be here today or may not be, the party will continue. Just to destroy the Congress party and the Congress party's base votes, they want to destroy, that is why they are doing this."
Let the law take its own course, and when a situation comes, the party will examine it at that time, he further said. "Now nothing is there, (but) every day I'm seeing that MUDA, MUDA. Crores of rupees (have been) swallowed by industrialists, Rs 16 lakh crore of their debt have been written off, and now you are taking one small issue and fighting. That too neither chargesheet is filed, nor he is convicted. Every day this is news. I'm fed up seeing all these things."
Asked whether the Congress high command will stand with the Chief Minister, even after the registering of FIR, Kharge said: "that is a hypothetical question. We are standing with him, we will support him, because he represents the party, not (an) individual."
A Special Court here on Wednesday ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Siddaramaiah in the case, setting the stage for filing of an FIR against him.
The order of the Special Court Judge, Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, came a day after the High Court upheld the sanction granted by the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to conduct an investigation against Siddaramaiah on the allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife B M Parvathi by MUDA.
The Special Court exclusively to deal with criminal cases related to former and elected MPs/MLAs issued the order directing the Lokayukta police in Mysuru to initiate an investigation on the complaint filed by RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna.
In the MUDA site allotment case, it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by MUDA.
The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where it developed a residential layout.
Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts.
It is alleged that Parvathi had no legal title over this 3.16 acres of land at survey number 464 of Kasare village, Kasaba hobli of Mysuru taluk.
