Karnataka ‘chaddi’ controversy: BJP MP Ramesh Jigajinagi has hit out at the Congress over its threat to burn saffron knickers, saying that the people of India have removed the party’s chaddi. He said people of Karnataka will do the same in the next polls.
The ‘chaddi (knicker) controversy’ between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress in Karnataka refuses to abate. Now, BJP MP Ramesh Jigajinagi has jumped into the row and said that the people of India have removed Congress’s chaddi.
“People across the country have removed Congress’s chaddi. People of Karnataka will also remove their chaddi in the upcoming elections. This is why Congress leaders are repeatedly talking about chaddi. Why do you see only chaddi? Don’t you see anything else,” Jigajinagi sought to ask Congress. Karnataka is slated to go to polls next year.
The ‘chaddi row’ started after National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) activists lit a pair of khaki shorts on fire outside BC Nagesh’s home at Tiptur in Tumakuru district on June 1. This was done in protest against the alleged ‘saffronisation’ of school textbooks in the state.
Congress leader Siddaramaiah also said that ‘chaddis’ would be burnt as a sign of protest against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Soon after his threat, the RSS began collecting knickers to send them to the Congress office.
Later on June 7, Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh alleged that members of the Congress’s student wing barged into his house and started a fire during a protest last week.
Hitting out at the Congress, the main Opposition party in the state, Nagesh said it is resorting to cheap public stunts like “chaddi burning” because it does not have any other issue to attack the government over.