By IANS,
Bangalore: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ruling Karnataka, Saturday told state Governor H.R. Bhardwaj to stop “dabbling in politics” or opt to “become spokesperson of the Congress party”.
“The governor has been dabbling in politics, giving us sermons,” senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.
Before becoming governor, Bhardwaj was law minister in the first United Progressive Alliance government (2004-09).
He has been vocal in criticizing the functioning of the first BJP government in Karnataka and south India and the ruling party leaders and ministers have also been hitting back at him frequently.
“If he is so interested, he can become a spokesman of the Congress,” Naidu said.
Naidu, known for his sarcastic one-liners, also said Bhardwaj can become “in-charge or discharge or recharge the batteries because the Congress is in a poor shape”.
The BJP leader attacked Congress as well following the party’s loss in two assembly bypolls in Karnataka and one assembly by-poll in Gujarat.
“These results are a slap on the face of the Congress,” he said. BJP snatched the Congress stronghold of Kathlal in Kaira district of Gujarat Friday.
On Thursday the Congress conceded the Kadur assembly seat in Karnataka to BJP. The Congress also lost in its bid to win the Gulbarga South assembly seat. In both places in Karnataka the party came third.