BJP chief Amit Shah said if any government deserves an award for corruption, it should be the ruling party's Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka, an apparent slip of tongue which the Congress termed was a Freudian slip.
Yeddyurappa is the BJP's chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming elections in the state, and was sitting next to Shah when he made the goof, although he quickly corrected himself.
Shah was addressing the press after the Election Commission announced the dates for the Karnataka elections. Karnataka will go to polls on May 12, and the results will be declared on May 15. While the Congress party is trying to retain power in Karnataka, the BJP is trying hard to wrestle the southern state into its fold.
Advertisement
The slip-up happened when BJP chief highlighted the promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP state chief Yeddyurappa to curb farmers' suicides and veered off to slam the current state government for corruption in the poll-bound state.
Watch:
Shah said, "Recently, a retired Supreme Court judge said that if any government deserves an award for corruption, it is the Yeddyurappa government."
Immediately, BJP's former state chief and Dharwad MP Prahlad Joshi butted in and whispered correction into the ear of Shah, who fumbled and repeated, 'Sidaramaiah is the most corrupt'.
Yeddyurappa, who had led BJP to its first ever government in the south in the 2008 assembly polls, was forced to resign as chief minister in August 2011 following indictment by then Lok Ayukta Santosh Hegde in the Rs 40 crore bribe in Bellary illegal mining case.
Advertisement
In 2016, a special CBI Court acquitted Yeddyurappa, his two sons, son-in-law and nine others in a corruption case, giving a boost to the political fortunes of the BJP leader ahead of 2018 Assembly polls.
It’s not the first time Shah said Yeddyurappa instead of Siddaramaiah. He mixed up the names last August in a pressed in Bangalore. The Congress’ Divya Spandana has tweeted that video as well today.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi was quick to cash in on it.
'Gifted to us by the BJP President, our campaign in Karnataka is off to a fabulous start. He says Yeddyurappa ran the most corrupt Govt ever.'
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shared the clip of the slip-up on Twitter, and captioned it "The ShahofLies finally speaks the truth (sic)"
The BJP has been trying hard to wrest Karnataka from the Congress.
Addressing a public rally in Davanagere ahead of the state assembly election, Shah highlighted the achievements of the BJP-ruled states, comparing it with Siddaramaiah led-Congress government in Karnataka.
The BJP chief also assured to work for the interests of the farmers, "I want to assure farmers of Karnataka that we will work for the interests of the farmers in the state."
"There has been a BJP government in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for the last 15 years and farmer suicide numbers in these states have been very low. The suicide cases that have been registered were due to depression and farmers' personal issues," he added.
Advertisement
Shah attacked the state government, accusing it of dividing the Hindu community in the state, alleging that by granting the Lingayat community the status of Minorities, the Congress government is strategising to prevent BJP's Yeddyurappa from becoming Chief Minister of the state.
(Inputs from agencies)
