Daijiworld Media Network - Hubballi

Hubballi, Oct 20: BJP MP and former state president of the party Prahlad Joshi on Friday October 20 predicted that this would be Siddaramaiah's 'last Diwali' as chief minister. He also said that if the BJP comes to power in the state in the 2018 Assembly polls, it would scrap Tipu Jayanti.

Speaking to reporters here, Joshi said, "The corrupt Congress government has not achieved anything noteworthy. It has taken up 'Mane Manege Congress' campaign to show people things that it has not actually achieved. This is definitely going to be Siddaramaiah's last Diwali as CM.

"In the name of 'Mane Manege Congress', the corrupt state government is looting the taxpayers' money. The government is holding Congress conventions without giving any assurances to the public," he said.

"If the BJP comes to power in the state in the upcoming Assembly elections, we will first scrap Tipu Jayanti celebration. We are against Tipu Jayanti. The Congress government is however hell bent on celebrating it.

"Tipu Sultan was against Kannada language and culture. We cannot tolerate the celebration of such a person. We will ban Tipu Jayanti if we come to power," Joshi stressed.

Commenting on the allegations of corruption levelled against him by Samaj Parivartana Samudaya founder president S R Hiremath, against whom Joshi filed a defamation case, he said, "I welcome criticism in politics, but I will never accept such baseless allegations of corruption against me. Maybe others can tolerate if Hiremath makes such allegations against them, but I cannot. That is why I cannot accept these allegations. He has been penalized for not appearing in the court. He should therefore admit that he is wrong. Why should I face such allegations when I have not done anything wrong?"