Some BJP Ministers on Tuesday said in the Legislative Assembly that the “tukde-tukde gang” of the Congress was supporting the ongoing protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act across the nation. This sparked off a verbal duel between ruling party and Opposition members.
While Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah was making a preliminary submission to convince the chair to take up the issue as an adjournment motion on the “deteriorating” law and order in the State in the wake of anti-CAA, NCR and NPR protests, Kannada and Culture Minister C.T. Ravi and Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the “tukde-tukde gang” of the Congress has been actively participating in protests in the State as well as other parts of the country.
Mr. Bommai alleged that the Congress was the “owner of the tukde-tukde gang” and had no moral right to speak on the Constitution and CAA. “The Congress has been promoting the tukde-tukde gang and provoking innocent people to protest against CAA, an Act passed by Parliament. Advocates belonging to the Congress are coming in the way of arresting the tukde-tukde gang,” he said.
Congress leaders Priyank Kharge, Sowmya Reddy, U.T. Khader, K.J. George, Zameer Ahmed, Dinesh Gundu Rao and Ramalinga Reddy took strong exception to this. Mr. Kharge asked the government to define the concept a “tukde-tukde gang” as the Union Home Ministry has said that it has no information on the terminology.
Mr. Kharge challenged the Home Minister to arrest the so-called tukde-tukde gang if it existed in the State. Ms. Reddy too urged Mr. Bommai to inform the House about the members of said gang.
Eventually, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri intervened and appealed to members of both the ruling and Opposition parties to stop their war of words and allow Mr. Siddaramaiah to complete his submission on the matter.
