Karnataka BJP chief calls Rahul Gandhi a 'drug peddler'; questions Congress' morals

Amid the ongoing war of words between the Karnataka Congress and Bhartiya Janata Party, BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel stoked controversy on Tuesday after he referred to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi as a 'drug peddler' and an 'addict.' 

"Who is Rahul Gandhi? He is a drug addict and drug peddler. I am not saying this, it was reported in the papers once. How will such people run a party?" the BJP leader exclaimed.

Nalin Kumar was referring to a 2001 news report which claimed that then Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was caught by Federal Bureau of Investigation officials in the United States for holding $1.60 lakh and "white powder". A prominent newspaper dated September 30, 2001, stated that Gandhi was temporarily detained at the Boston Airport for possession of drugs but they did not state that he was arrested.

What moral do you have?: BJP asks Congress

Questioning Congress' morality, Nalin Kumar stated that several prominent leaders of the grand old party, including its interim President Sonia Gandhi, are out on bail.

"Your President is out on bail, your deputy President is also on bail – should have been ideally in jail. Even your State president (DK Shivakumar) is out on bail. What morality do you have?" he asked. 

Notably, Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul were granted bail in the National Herald case in 2015. The Congress leaders were accused of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by paying just Rs 50 lakh, through which a not-for-profit organisation 'Young Indian' obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that the Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) owed to the Congress party.

Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar was also arrested and later granted bail in connection with a money-laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Shivakumar was released from Tihar Jail in 2019, exactly 50 days after he was taken into custody. The BJP state chief also took a dig at the leadership crisis in the Congress, wherein  Sonia Gandhi has maintained that she is the AICC President even as party leaders have thrown their weight behind Rahul Gandhi to return as their chief. 

Bommai Vs Siddaramaiah

Nalin Kumar's comments come amid a spar between the BJP and the Congress after Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai "downplayed" incidents of moral policing and communal violence in the state. Slamming the CM for condoning moral policing, Siddaramaiah said the CM has accepted his incapability in maintaining law and order as he justified moral policing by anti-social elements. He called on Bommai to resign and "save Karnataka."

Stung by Siddaramaiah's attack, the CM retorted, "All I said was in our society there will be a reaction to every action and law will take its own course unlike in your tenure Hindus we’re killed right left and Centre". The Bengaluru police have arrested the two Muslim youth in the 'moral policing' incident. They have confessed that they had done it for publicity as many such videos posted in the past had garnered "good response."