'Chaddi' Row Between Cong & BJP in Karnataka After Underwear Burning Protests

The squabble began when the Congress burnt underwear outside the home of Education Minister BC Nagesh last week.

In the latest row between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress in Karnataka, workers of the Congress party burnt underwear at various places in Chitradurga and Chickmangaluru to protest against the BJP on Tuesday, 7 June.

The squabble began when members of the Congress' students wing, National Students Union of India (NSUI), burnt shorts of the kind associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) outside the Home of Education Minister BC Nagesh last week. The demonstration had been carried out to protest the 'saffronisation' of school textbooks.

"During a protest, we symbolically burnt one underwear – just one underwear. But the police and government made it a big issue and said we are trying to burn the house... So let's start a chaddi-burning campaign," Congress leader Siddaramaiah was quoted as saying by news agency ANI at a press conference on Sunday.

Retaliating to the campaign, RSS workers in Mandya district collected shorts to send to the Congress office as a mark of their protest, as per reports.

On Tuesday, Siddaramaiah took another jibe against the BJP and the RSS. Speaking in Hubli, the Opposition leader stated, "I am telling you from the beginning that RSS is a non-secular organisation. Has a Dalit, OBC or a member from minority communities ever become Sarsanghchalak? What else can chaddis do? They do chaddi work only, chaddis do chaddi work."

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai reacted to the statements made by Siddaramaiah, and said that the Congress leader should talk about better things.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi made another quip about 'chaddi,' saying that the Congress had lost its underwear when it suffered a miserable defeat in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections held earlier this year.

"Siddaramaiah and the Congress's chaddi is loose already. They have torn chaddi. So, they are burning chaddis. Their chaddi was lost in Uttar Pradesh. Siddaramaiah lost his chaddi and lungi in Chamundeshwari. To hit back, he's trying to burn Sangh's (RSS) chaddi," Joshi was quoted as saying by ANI.

(With inputs from ANI.)