Karnataka BJP leader disagrees with PM Modi, says Rajiv Gandhi was not corrupt

BENGALURU: BJP candidate from the Chamarajanagar constituency in Karnataka V Srinivasa Prasad has taken exception to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on the late Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi, saying they were "not relevant or warranted."

Prasad, in response to queries from the media in Mysuru on Wednesday, disapproved of Modi’s description of the late Gandhi as corrupt number one. Prasad said he knew the late Gandhi too well from close quarters, and asserted that the late PM never indulged in corruption.

Modi’s remarks on Gandhi at an election rally in Lucknow sparked angry reactions from the Congress leaders, and provoked AICC president Rahul Gandhi to tell the PM that “Karma awaits you. Projecting your inner beliefs about yourself onto my father won’t protect you.” The Congress party even moved the Election Commission on this issue.


Srinivasa Prasad, 71, a former Congress Minister, disagreed with the Prime Minister that Rajiv Gandhi died with the Bofors taint on him. The Delhi High Court, he said, cleared Gandhi of any corruption charges. “Modi’s remarks were not relevant. I had known Rajiv Gandhi from close quarters. No one in the country will agree with him on that. He should not have said that,” Prasad said.

Rajiv Gandhi was known as "Mr.Clean," the BJP leader said, and added: “He shouldered a very big responsibility by becoming PM at a very young age, and led an exemplary political life.”

Prasad, while expressing his disagreement with Modi’s assessment of Rajiv Gandhi, said he had immense respect for the Prime Minister. A prominent Dalit leader in the old Mysuru region, Prasad represented Chamarajanagar in the past from the Congress and JD(U) and was a Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the Vajpayee government. He quit the Congress in 2016 after then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dropped from the Ministry. The next year, he switched to the BJP to settle scores with his longtime-friend-turned-foe Siddaramaiah. The BJP too wooed him into the party to capitalise on his clout and influence in the Mysuru-Chamarajangar belt.

Modi, in fact, campaigned for Prasad by addressing a BJP rally in Mysuru on April 9, where he appealed for votes for party candidates in Mysuru-Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Hassan and Mandya seats.

Karnataka Chief Minister H.D.Kumaraswamy too had attacked the PM on his comments saying "fear and frustration have taken over his judgement."