Can't remove CEC just by shouting in streets: Karnataka BJP leader Ashoka slams Rahul Gandhi

There has to be a lengthy discussion in Parliament, a majority has to be established, and the matter has to go before the President. Just because I shout on the street that corruption has increased, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar cannot be removed, Ashoka said.

Karanataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Leader of Opposition in the state's Legislative Assembly, R Ashoka, on Wednesday, slammed the Congress for demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Comissioner Gyanesh Kumar. It is not possible to remove the chairman of the Election Commission easily, he said. There has to be a lengthy discussion in Parliament, a majority has to be established, and the matter has to go before the President. Just because I shout on the street that corruption has increased, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar cannot be removed, Ashoka said.

He was speaking after taking part in the Seva Jyoti Yatra programme organised by the BJP to mark 25 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public life. Later, he said that the Constitution of India grants the right to protest. But if the chairman of an independent institution such as the Election Commission is to be dismissed, there is a proper process for it. Rahul Gandhi, without following this process, stood on the street and protested, thereby insulting a constitutional institution, he said.

Congress has won in the state. If it is claimed that the election here was not conducted properly, then Congress leaders should resign. The BJP has not won in Kerala either. Rahul Gandhi’s view is that the Election Commission is wrong only where Congress loses. He is not even fit to be Leader of the Opposition. They allege that the ED, the CBI, and everything else are BJP institutions. They would even accuse the High Court, which ordered an SIT probe into the KPSC irregularities. They do not value the Supreme Court either. The moment people came to know that crores were looted in a raid on their house, they began accusing the ED. If Congress continues like this, it will lose its majority in Karnataka as well, he said. Speaking on the Karanataka Chief Minister's recent video, Ashoka said, D.K. Shivakumar stood before Veerashaiva Lingayat swamijis and said, “Do service to me.” His temper has gone to his head. None of us reported this. It has come out in the media itself. The video has come out exactly as it happened. How can this video be twisted? In today’s times, nothing can be twisted. If the CM has any sense of honour, he should apologise before all the Swamis. He should not accuse the media. The media should broadcast all the videos. Let it be known how insultingly he has spoken and how he speaks about the Hindu religion. Would the Chief Minister go to a meeting of Muslim maulvis and say, “You do service to me”? Do not put on an act of being Hindu, MLA from Padmanabhanagar said.

Further commenting on the Seva Jyoti Yatra, Ashioka said that a Seva Jyoti Yatra has been held to mark 25 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public life. Through the Seva Sankalpa Abhiyan, service is being rendered to various communities in society. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the reason India is becoming the Vishwaguru, he said. (ANI)