BJP leaders are in touch withme seeking to join Cong.: CM

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has asserted that no Congress leader would join the BJP and claimed that several BJP leaders were in touch with him expressing their desire to join the Congress. Addressing a gathering during the centenary celebration of Basaveshwara Bank in Bagalkot on Friday, he refused to divulge the names of the leaders stating that he would reveal the names at an appropriate time. Expressing anger over the statement of the former Chief Minister and BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa, who described him as a “kid” when compared to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that “political culture” was missing in BJP leaders, including Mr. Yeddyurappa. “There is no need for me to learn any lessons from people who have gone to jail and are out on bail on corruption charge,” he said. Describing Mr. Yeddyurappa as a “big hypocrite”, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that “countryside people spoke more cultured language” than Mr. Yeddyurappa. Stating that politicians should not launch personal attacks against each other, he said that Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde was unfit to be a parliamentarian as he was using objectionable language against the litterateurs such as Chandrashekhar Patil who had taken part in the Akhila Bharata Sahitya Sammelan. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister got angry with Bagalkot Superintendent of Police C.B. Rishyant for allowing some protesters to meet him. The protesters made an attempt to submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister demanding Scheduled Tribes tag for Kuruba community.