B.L. Santosh, BJP’s national joint general secretary, took potshots at Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, over the former wearing a dhoti and the latter sporting a bindi . The remarks have drawn criticism from the Congress.
“Unlike Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is a daiva bhakta (devotee), Mr. Gandhi and Ms. Vadra are devotees of elections,” he said. He went on to say that Ms. Vadra never wore a bindi six months ago “despite having a husband” but was doing so now during election campaign. Mr. Santosh was addressing the Yuva Shakti Jagruti Sabha at Karatagi town in Koppal district on Friday. He challenged both Mr. Gandhi and Ms. Vadra to call themselves “atheists”.
He said one vote cast this time would result in two governments being formed — the Modi government at the Centre and a new government in the State, predicting the fall of the coalition government after the elections.
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Reacting to this, Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said such derogatory remarks against Congress leaders stemmed from “desperation” of BJP leaders.