New Delhi: The BJP on Thursday vehemently criticised newly elected Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s “Bihar DNA” remark and demanded that the Congress and other members of the opposition INDIA bloc condemn his comment and ask him to apologise.
Reddy reportedly said during a recent media interaction that K Chandrashekar Rao, the first chief minister of Telangana, has “Bihar DNA”, indicating that he was a better choice for the state than KCR.
“My DNA is Telangana. KCR’s DNA is Bihar. He belongs to Bihar. KCR’s caste is Kurmi. They migrated from Bihar to Vijayanagaram and from there to Telangana. Telangana DNA is better than Bihar DNA,” Reddy had allegedly said.
Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad termed Reddy’s remarks “very shameful, divisive and arrogant” and demanded that the Congress and other INDIA bloc members condemn his statement.
He also demanded an apology from Reddy for making such remarks against the people of Bihar. “I condemn his remarks,” Prasad told PTI on the Parliament complex.
“Does he want to break the country? The big question here is why are the INDIA alliance members silent. Why has Nitish Kumar not said anything (on Reddy’s remarks) so far? What are the Congress members in Bihar doing?”
Prasad also questioned the silence of former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on Reddy’s remarks.
“Your chief minister calls one region’s DNA weak and makes very shameful casteist remarks against his own party leaders (who are in Bihar), this is very unfortunate. We condemn it. The Congress party should also condemn it if they have even a little understanding of the significance of unity in the country,” he said.
Addressing a press conference at BJP headquarters later, Prasad targeted Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on the issue. “The mother, son and daughter all three went to attend his (Reddy’s) oath-taking ceremony. They did not make him withdraw his statement.”
“To what extent the Congress will stoop down to make itself relevant,” the BJP leader asked. “Do they know that India’s cultural unity is in North and South as well India is one. Do soldiers think whether they should work in North or South.”
The Patna Sahib MP also targeted Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, asking him, “How long will all of you remain silent for your selfish political interests?”
“This is very painful. I am from Bihar and I am proud of Bihari mitti (soil).”
BJP’s Buxar MP and Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey said Reddy’s “petty” remarks have hurt the sentiments of the people of Bihar and demanded Chief Minister Nitish Kumar respond to it.
“Congress leaders are creating a dirty atmosphere in the country… The kind of petty remarks that the Congress leader, who is… the chief minister (of Telangana), has made, people will give them a befitting reply,” Choubey told PTI.
BJP MP and former deputy chief minister of Bihar Sushil Modi also hit out at the Congress and its INDIA bloc allies over Reddy’s remarks and demanded that they ask the Telangana chief minister to apologise.
“The INDI Alliance members kept insulting Hindu Dharma and Sanatan Dharma. Now they have come to Bihar DNA. Is it appropriate to say that Telangana DNA is better than the Bihar DNA and make such insulting comments against the people of another state?” he asked.
