Bengaluru: Slamming Congress over its allegation over actor Kichcha Sudeep agreeing to campaign for BJP in the upcoming assembly election in Karnataka, BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia on Saturday questioned senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over actress Swara Bhasker’s participation in the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“The targeting of Kiccha Sudeep I heard a Congress leader saying that it must be the fear of investigating agencies. If someone supports Congress, it is for the benefit of democracy. But if someone supports BJP, then it is the fear of investigating agencies. They also went on to say that BJP needs campaigners from outside,” he told reporters here.
Bhatia was reacting to Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala’s tweet saying that actor Sudeep will campaign for BJP out of fear of ED and IT raids on him.
“A Film Star is free to choose whom to support, sometimes by IT-ED or otherwise. Bankruptcy of BJP in Karnataka is clear. As no one turns up to listen to CM Bommai & BJP leaders, they now rely upon Film Stars to draw a crowd. People, not Film Stars, will decide the fate of Karnataka,” Surjewala said.
He was hinting at 2019 income tax department raid on Sudeep where I-T had raided him along with other popular Kannada actors like Yash and the late Puneeth Rajkumar.
In a fitting reply to Surjewala, Bhatia said: “So I ask Rahul Gandhi, tell the nation why a person like Swara Bhasker who openly supported people working against the integrity of our country was seen with you during the Bharat Jodo yatra which was more of Bharat Todo Yatra.”
“This means Rahul Gandhi does not have any charisma left, he needs people like Swara Bhasker who were supporting people chanting slogans against our country. There were stars like Riya Sen and Rashmi Desai. What were they doing in the Bharat Jodo Yatra?” he questioned.
