New Delhi, Jan 14 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday criticised Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar, accusing them of “prioritising” the reception of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over formally welcoming and seeing off German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during his visit to the state.
German Chancellor Merz, along with his delegation, arrived in Bengaluru on Tuesday, visited several institutions across the city and later departed from Kempegowda International Airport. Minister for Large and Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development M.B. Patil, represented the Karnataka government and bid a warm farewell to the Chancellor and his delegation at the airport.
However, the BJP alleged that the Chief Minister and Deputy CM failed to extend due respect to the visiting foreign dignitary and instead chose to give precedence to the party’s high command and a particular family over the interests of the state and its people.
BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla, speaking to IANS, said, “Once again, the Congress party has shown that, for the party and its Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar, power and family are more important than the people and the state.”
He further alleged that a significant opportunity had been missed.
“Therefore, when the German Chancellor visited Karnataka, Germany being a very strong economy with thousands of crores of investments in the state, their priority was not to receive him and secure more investments, but to go and receive Rahul Gandhi instead, who was still in transit. It shows that Congress gives more importance to the high command than to the state and its people,” Poonawalla said.
BJP spokesperson Pratul Shah Deo also criticised the Congress leadership and told IANS, “Leadership in the Congress remains confined to a single family, which does not function democratically and instead behaves like a royal household. Even if a child from that family arrives, Congress leaders roll out the red carpet.”
He alleged that the visit of the German Chancellor did not receive the attention it deserved.
“Their mindset is evident from the fact that even the German Chancellor, a guest of the country, did not receive due respect because Rahul Gandhi was on a Karnataka visit at the time. This reflects how distorted their thinking has become,” Shah Deo said.
He further pointed out that Bengaluru’s global stature should have been leveraged during the visit.
“Bengaluru is an IT hub, and this was the right time when they could have held talks about the German investments; however, they lost this opportunity,” he added.
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