In veiled dig at Congress, Bommai says there were attempts to forget Ambedkar, Shastri
Bengaluru (PTI): Amid controversy over excluding first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the Karnataka government's newspaper advertisement on freedom fighters, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday took a veiled dig at the Congress without naming it as he pointed at attempts to "forget" national icons like B R Ambedkar and Lal Bahadur Shastri.
In his address at the 76th Independence Day event at the Manekshaw Parade Ground here, he also said that all Prime Ministers and leaders of the country have contributed to India's progress in their own way, and there is no question of forgetting anyone.
"First Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, then Lal Bahadur Shastri and several Prime Ministers have ruled this country, all of them have contributed in their own way for the nation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set up a Prime Ministers' Museum in New Delhi to highlight each one's contribution," Bommai said without directly referring to the controversy.
"If any Prime Minister had thought about making known the contributions of various PMs to the country it is Narendra Modi. There is no question of forgetting anyone here. Everyone has contributed in their own way. Only PMs have not contributed, there are several luminaries who have contributed," he said.
Highlighting the importance of Ambedkar and the Constitution prepared under his leadership, he said, "There were attempts to forget him. Should we forget Lal Bahadur Shastri who gave the call 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan' or Abdul Ghaffar Khan? Several people have sacrificed for the freedom struggle. I pay my tributes to them," he said.
The Congress on Sunday took strong exception to the exclusion of Nehru in the newspaper advertisement on freedom fighters and termed the BJP government's action "pathetic".
Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah had called Bommai an "RSS slave", while AICC general secretary and in-charge of the party affairs in the state Randeep Surjewala had said the BJP's hatred for the country's first prime minister had reached its zenith.
State BJP General Secretary N Ravi Kumar, however, had said Nehru's name was omitted "intentionally", as he was responsible for the partition of the country.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
LSG beat KKR by 3 wickets
Kolkata (PTI): Lucknow Super Giants defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by three wickets in an Indian Premier League match here on Thursday.
Opting to bowl, LSG restricted KKR to 181 for four.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi (45 off 33 balls), skipper Ajinkya Rahane (41 off 24 balls), Rovman Powell (39 not out off 24 balls) and Cameron Green (32 not out off 24 balls) were the major contributors for the home side.
For LSG, Digvesh Singh Rathi (1/25) was the pick of the bowlers.
Chasing 182, LSG rode on Ayush Badoni's 34-ball 54 and Mukul Chooudhary's brilliant 27-ball 54 not out to cross the line in a last ball thriller.
For KKR, Anukul Roy (2/32) and Vaibhav Arora (2/38) were the main wicket-takers.
Brief Scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders: 181 for 4 in 20 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 45, Ajinkya Rahane 41; Digvesh Singh Rathi 1/25).
Lucknow Super Giants: 182 for 7 in 20 overs (Ayush Badoni 54, Mukul Choudhary 54 not out; Anukul Roy 2/32).
