Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah has slammed Bharatiya Janata Party for its "hatred politics" after BJP General Secretary CT Ravi called for the renaming of Indira Canteens across Karnataka to 'Annapoorneshwari Canteen'.
"The government is not right in its attempt to change the name of Indira Canteen. We have a strong opposition to this. It will become hatred politics," said Siddaramaiah in an official statement.
Earlier in the day, CT Ravi had urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to change the name of the canteens at the earliest stating that it is a reminder of "dark days of emergency."
"Request Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to rename Indira Canteens across Karnataka as 'Annapoorneshwari Canteen' at the earliest. Don't see any reason why Kannadigas should be reminded of the dark days of Emergency while they are having food," said the BJP general secretary in a tweet.
Hitting out at BJP, Siddaramaiah said that it is "petty politics.""@BJP4Karnataka government should not get into petty politics and attempt to rename Indira Canteen. It has been a tradition to name roads and government buildings after national leaders," he said.
He further questioned the BJP government at the Centre asking if they will rename Gujarat's Motera stadium which is renamed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, last year.
"Will @BJP4India government rename the stadium which is named after @narendramodi? Flyover named after Deendayal Upadhyay & City Bus corporation named after Vajpayee? Will BJP rename these?" senior Congress leader asked.
According to him, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had initiated reforms to evade poverty from the country among other reforms.
"Indira Gandhi initiated reforms to eliminate poverty and implemented Land reforms act. To honour her for the contribution, the canteen was named after her. What is wrong in remembering her contribution?" he said.
"It will become hatred politics. When a party comes to power, they change the names that were kept by party that was previously in power. Indira Gandhi worked hard for the poor. She had said Garibi Hathao. Thus the Indira Canteen is named after her," Siddaramaiah added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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