How are BJP, Congress different? Yogi Adityanath claims one worships Hanuman, the other Tipu Sultan

PTI photo

HUBLI: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday slammed the Congress and its newly-elected president Rahul Gandhi saying that they are going to meet the same fate they met in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in the recently concluded assembly elections. 

Coming down on the party for choosing to celebrate the birth anniversary of Tipu Jayanti in Karnataka last month, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said 'it shows the mentality between the ruling party in Karnataka and the BJP. 

He also attacked the Congress for not worshipping Lord Hanuman. 

"It's unfortunate that the Congress worships a despotic Muslim ruler like Tipu Sultan than Hindu deity Hanuman, who hailed from Karnataka and served Lord Ram. This shows the difference in mentality," Yodi Adityanath said while flagging off the 'Parivartan Yatra' of the party's state unit in the city.

"The people of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have rejected them. When Karnataka will also reject the Congress, there will be no one left to worship Tipu Sultan," Adityanath said. 

The Chief Minister also questioned Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah for giving approval to beef consumption in the state saying nothing can be expected from the ruling state government. 

"Karnataka Chief Minister himself has allowed the consumption of beef. What else we can expect from this government! This depicts going against nation's ethics," Adityanath said. 

Adityanath further alleged that Rahul Gandhi has inherited a 'mafia raaj' which he wants to implement across the country while asking the people to choose between Lord Hanuman and Tipu Sultan. 

"Since our party (BJP) came to power at the Centre in May 2014, the (Narendra) Modi government had given Rs 10,000 crore to Karnataka for various development projects, including roads, highways, airports and seaports. An IIT was set up at Dharwad in this region (north Karnataka) in 2016. What did the Congress do for the state when it was in power for 10 years at the Centre and five years in the state," asked Adityanath.

"It is the turn of the people in Karnataka to throw Congress out of south India," said Adityanath. 

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who recently addressed a gathering in Bengaluru, announced that that BS Yeddyurappa will be the party's chief ministerial candidate in the state which goes to polls early next year.

The BJP, which came to power in the state for the first time on its own after the 2008 assembly election, lost to the Congress in the 2013 assembly poll following a split in its state unit and five years of "misrule", with three chief ministers at the helm of office.