Priyank Kharge mocks R. Ashoka over Metro Phase-2 event snub, hints at leadership trouble
Bengaluru: Rural Development, Panchayat Raj and IT Minister Priyank Kharge on Saturday mocked Karnataka Leader of the Opposition R. Ashoka after his name was omitted from the official invitation for the Bengaluru Metro Phase-2 inauguration.
Taking to social media platform X, Kharge questioned whether Ashoka’s own party colleagues in the BJP were now opposing him. He pointed out that while the Union government had given a spot on the dais to first-time MLA and non-Bengaluru legislator B.Y. Vijayendra, it had denied the same to R. Ashoka, a senior BJP leader, multiple-term MLA, former Bengaluru legislator, and the current Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
“Has the Union government forgotten protocol, or was this a deliberate snub?” Kharge asked, suggesting the incident could be read as a signal that Ashoka’s “chair might be on the verge of being pulled away.”
In a sarcastic remark, Priyank Kharge told R. Ashoka, “You were once busy worrying about who wished whom on their birthday. Now, it is your turn to worry about ‘why was I not invited?’ Instead of peeping into others’ houses, you should focus on the fact that your own foundation is shaking.”
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
