PM Modi trying to take 'jail birds' into Vidhan Sabha, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for trying to take “jail birds” – BS Yeddyurappa and “Bellary Gang” (Reddy brothers) – into Karnataka Vidhan Sabha.

Gandhi said that Yeddyurappa and Reddy Brothers looted Karnataka when they were in power but brought to justice by Siddaramaiah-led Congress government.

“When in power, Yeddyurappa and Reddy Brothers looted Karnataka. Our Govt. brought them to justice. Now Mr Modi is trying to take 8 of them from jail, into the Vidhan Sabha,” the Gandhi Scion tweeted.

The Congress president said that Modi was “insulting” honest people of the state as it was against the spirit Basavanna, the god of Lingayats.

“This is an insult to every honest citizen, to Karnataka and to the spirit of Basavanna,” he added.

The three mining baron brothers, the Reddy brothers were at the centre of Karnataka’s biggest mining scam that cost Yeddyurapp the CM’s chair in 2011.

Also Read | 'Karnataka youth like Rahul Gandhi, Congress to win clear majority'

Earlier on April 24, Congress put out some documents claiming that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had shut down the cases against the Reddy brothers.

“The Modi government has come to the rescue of what the Kannadiga called the Bellari Gang... responsible for denuding Kannadigas of their rich natural resources through a puppet and captive CBI,” Congress media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

In 2008, when the party BJP fell just short of a majority in Karnataka, the Reddy brothers had helped the party win its first ever south Indian state by cobbling together the required numbers.

This time, BJP has given tickets to two of them – Gali Somashekhara Reddy and Gali Karunakar Reddy.