The former Minister V. Srinivas Prasad, who has announced his decision to join the BJP, on Tuesday claimed that the party was “neither anti-Dalit nor communal” while the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) too was “changing”.
At a press conference here, Mr. Prasad, a Dalit leader, said no party, including the BJP, could administer the country without committing itself to the basic principles of B.R. Ambedkar against untouchability, inequality and illiteracy.
Citing an instance of an RSS leader eating food with pourakarmikas at Ashokapuram in Mysuru recently, Mr. Prasad argued that the RSS was also changing. “If the BJP were anti-Dalit, how could the party have won so many seats in the last Lok Sabha elections?” Mr. Prasad sought to know.
When he was reminded of his oft-repeated charge while he was in the Congress that the BJP was a “communal party,” Mr. Prasad said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, led by the BJP, comprised of parties from different parts of the country. Even West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and M. Karunadhi-led DMK had also been part of the NDA government earlier, he said.
Reacting to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s remarks at a programme in Mysuru recently that the BJP was against social justice, Mr. Prasad said no party could claim to be the custodian of social justice. “Does the BJP say that it will not admit people who are in favour of social justice?” he countered.
Mr. Prasad said he was joining the BJP unconditionally and had given his approval to join the party when the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa met him in Bengaluru on December 24.
“I have not asked for any power or position. I have only asked them not to offend my self-respect and pride,” Mr. Prasad said.
He said he was preparing for a triangular fight in the Nanjangud Assembly constituency with the JD(S) also expected to field its candidate. Though the JD(S) had offered to support him if he contested as an Independent, Mr. Prasad said he now expected the JD(S) to field its own candidate for the byelection.
‘Siddaramaiah had sought BJP support’
Reacting to the Chief Minister’s critical remarks against his move to join the BJP, Mr. Srinivas Prasad claimed Mr. Siddaramaiah had approached BJP leader L.K. Advani in New Delhi after his ouster from the JD(S) in 2005 seeking the saffron party’s support to form an alternative government in Karnataka.
Mr. Prasad, who disclosed this at a press conference here on Tuesday, said Mr. Siddaramaiah had told Mr. Advani that he enjoyed the support of several JD(S) and Congress MLAs who were ready to be part of an alternative government headed by him in the State. “But, he needed the support of the BJP, which had a substantial number of MLAs, to form the alternative government,” he said.
“However, Mr. Advani, before promising him the BJP’s support, asked Mr. Siddaramaiah to demonstrate the number of MLAs rallying behind him. Eventually, it turned out that Mr. Siddaramaiah had the support of only a few MLAs,” Mr Prasad said.
