It took two days of persuasion for Udupi Member of Parliament and Bharatiya Janata Party Karnataka secretary Shobha Karandlaje to agree to speak to Newslaundry. In the course of the conversation, she accused incumbent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of being power hungry. Karandlaje also defended jailbird Janardhan Reddy’s move to campaign for BJP candidate B Sriramulu, saying the two are “close friends”. Excerpts:
The Congress party has already released its manifestos for the Karnataka Assembly polls. The Janata Dal-Secular too has published its key promises. But the Bharatiya Janata Party, despite being a political force nationally, is yet to release its manifesto. What is the reason for the delay?
SK: We have seen the Congress’ manifesto and we have seen the mistakes they have made too. They couldn’t write in Kannada, and even in English, they made mistakes. For instance, they have spelt “window” as “widow”. That’s the condition of the Congress party’s manifesto. We will not be releasing a manifesto. Ours will be a vision document to develop Karnataka.
We have been giving serious thought to the financial condition of different departments under the government, which is why we have got in touch with several experts. That’s the primary reason for the delay. We will release the vision document soon.
You call it a vision document and not a manifesto. What’s in it? What are the promises that the BJP is making?
I cannot disclose any information about the vision document until May 4 – when it is likely to be released. Mr [BS] Yeddyurappa will disclose everything.
There has been a lot of talk about corruption in the political rallies. BJP president Amit Shah has accused the Siddaramaiah government of looting the people of Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself made similar allegations against the Congress government. But the face of the BJP in the polls, Yeddyurappa himself, is accused of corruption. His last government was marred by charges of corruption.
The charges against Mr Yeddyurappa are fake charges. Nothing has been proved so far. The Congress fixed him through then Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj. He was a Congress fellow. Each charge is fabricated and the facts against him were wrongly presented in front of the people.
You said nothing has been proved against Yeddyurappa. Going by the same logic, there is no substance in the allegations against the Congress government being made by Shah and PM Modi. There are FIRs against Yeddyurappa and he was also in jail. How can you defend this strategy and your chief ministerial candidate?
We have raised several allegations against the Congress government [in state] both inside and outside the House. But Siddaramaiah has totally closed the Lokayukta. They intentionally took back all the powers of the Lokayukta to save their own leaders.
If you go through the Income Tax department inquiries in [MLC] Govind Raje’s diary [seized during the raids in 2017], there are sensational entries about the economic misdemeanours of the Chief Minister and his ministers. After demonetisation, crores of rupees in new currency were found in their officers’ house. What does this tell?
Because you referred to tainted leaders and officers, I would like to draw your attention towards mining baron Reddy brothers. Janardhan Reddy, who is out on bail, is openly campaigning for the BJP. Why don’t you distance yourself from Reddy brothers?
B Sriramulu and Reddy are very close friends. He has nothing to do with the BJP, in fact, he is not even a party member. Reddy and Sriramulu are close friends since many years. That’s why Reddy is campaigning for him.
As the state secretary, are you comfortable with the fact that jailbirds such as Reddy are campaigning for your candidate?
When the party elders and senior leaders don’t have a problem with it, why should I bother about Reddy campaigning for our candidate? We can’t separate Reddy and Sriramulu. Even when Reddy was in jail, both shared good bonds. Importantly, you can make allegations against G Karunakar Reddy, G Somashekar Reddy and Sriramulu [Reddy’s close aides] but the fact is that they are not related to Reddy’s cases.
But your party can ask its candidates to maintain a distance from such tainted figures. PM Modi himself lashed out at Akhilesh Yadav’s party during the UP polls for sharing the stage with leaders such as Gayatri Prajapati. Isn’t it an example of hypocrisy and doublespeak?
I think the senior party leaders must have thought about it and I don’t want to comment anymore on this issue.
You got a lot of attention in the national media for releasing a list of “Hindu activists” killed by alleged Muslim fringe groups. Is this also one of your poll agendas?
This is not our agenda but the Congress’ agenda. The Congress has already joined hands with the SDPI [Social Democratic Party of India], the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the KFD [Karnataka Forum for Dignity]. In the last Assembly election, the SDPI fought on around 29-30 constituencies. But this time they have withdrawn their candidates and only four SDPI candidates are in the fray. This clearly shows that Siddaramaiah is hand in gloves with SDPI – which is a terrorist organisation.
How is it a terrorist organisation? How can you make such claims?
Many PFI members are in the SDPI, which is its political outfit. In the R Rudresh murder case and the Sharath Madiwala murder case [both RSS workers], it’s already proven that PFI workers were involved. These PFI workers were arrested and are in jail. This shows that the PFI is involved in terrorism activities and killings in Karnataka.
You are making very serious allegations. If you believe in these allegations, why doesn’t the BJP-led Central government initiate action against them?
They are collecting evidence.
It’s been years that you are making such allegations…
They are collecting evidences in Kerala, they are collecting evidence in Karnataka. It was on the back of our demand that the case [of “Hindu activists’” murder] was referred to the National Investigation Agency [NIA]. No other case has been referred to the NIA. The state government is not helping the NIA in Karnataka.
The first alarm against the PFI was raised by a Congress-led government in Kerala. It was not by a BJP leader or by a BJP-governed state. Then how can you accuse the Congress of being compromised?
That is the dirty politics of Siddaramaiah. He only wants power, not people. He doesn’t bother about the law and order situation in Karnataka. He is doing all he can to divide the community. He wants to divide Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats. He joined hands with communal forces to tap the Muslim vote bank. But, in fact, a majority of Muslims are against the PFI and its ideology. Still Siddaramaiah thinks that Muslims will vote in his favour.
If members of a Hindutva fringe group kill a Muslim, will you call that fringe group a terrorist organisation?
Such a thing could happen because of a communal incident or due to personal reasons. But Hindus are not killers. Our sanskriti and our sanskar don’t teach killing.
How about those Hindus who are convicted of killing others? Those who are in jail are they not killers?
[Sounding agitated] They are not terrorists. They could be convicted of killing for personal reasons – for property. But they are not anti-nationals. All these PFI members, who are recruiting for the ISIS, are anti-nationals.
I categorically want to tell you that no Hindu or even an Indian can kill someone the way PFI does. Only those trained in ISIS can chop humans. There are allegations that in coastal Karnataka, the PFI is recruiting youth for ISIS.
You are again making serious allegations. You are saying that the Congress has joined hands with an organisation that has links with ISIS. If we are to believe your claims, it is a serious threat to national security. In that case, what is the BJP government doing? Why has it failed to act?
These cases are being investigated. The Central government is keeping a close eye on these organisations working in coastal Karnataka and Kasargod [Kerala].
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