Days after BS Yeddyurappa received flak for eating food from a hotel instead of the meal prepared at a Dalit house in Tumakuru, the Karnataka BJP President on Monday sought to turn the tables on the ruling Congress and the JD(S).
All the leaders who raised the issue must apologise to Dalits at whose homes I had breakfast. The reason for having breakfast at a Dalit’s home was to send out a message that BJP and I are for a socially equitable. But what can I say when people are criticising me for having breakfast bought from outside?BS Yeddyurappa, President, Karnataka BJP
He accused the two parties of disrespecting Dalits saying, "?" he said.
Clarifying why he ate hotel food, Yeddyurappa told media persons, “The Dalit families have confirmed that they had ordered food from outside as the families could not cater to feed all the leaders on such a short notice.
A Dalit youth, Venkatesh D, had filed a complaint with the police against Yeddyurappa and alleged that the food consumed by the BJP state President and other leaders was ordered from a hotel.
Venkatesh D accused BS Yeddyurappa of practising untouchability which is punishable under law. He alleged that BS Yeddyurappa's act would convey a wrong message to the society.
The ruling Congress was quick to hit out at BSY, with Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara lashing out on Sunday, stating that the BJP leaders should be ashamed of themselves for reportedly eating idlis and vadas brought from a local hotel at the house of a Dalit in Gubbi.
After Yeddyurappa ate a hearty breakfast in Bagalkot at the home of a Dalit, he took to Twitter to lash out at the Congress leaders in a series of tweets.
He alleged that “scared with the drifting of Dalit votes,” the Congress had stooped to “cheap propaganda” over his eating at a Dalit’s home.
“Congress is a party which did not even celebrate Dr BR Ambedkar’s 100th birth anniversary. It is the BJP, which is celebrating with festivities,” he tweeted.
(The story first appeared on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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