Thrown out of Cong, Harikrishna Bantwal joins BJP chanting Hindutva mantra

Mangaluru, Nov 12: Harikrishna Bantwal, the confidante of former union minister B Janardhana Poojary, has formally embraced the Bharatiya Janata Party nearly two years after he was expelled from the Congress on charge of anti-party activities.

The Billava community stalwart, who officially joined the saffron party during BJP’s public meet held at BC Road in Bantwal on Saturday as part of Karnataka Parivartana Yatra, on Sunday addressed another public meet at Nehru Maidan in Mangaluru city and reiterated his commitment to Hindutva ideology.

Harikrishna claimed that he quit Congress because it lacked patriotism and nationalism. “Congress leaders tolerate pro-Pakistan slogans but cannot tolerate pro-Hindu and pro-India slogans,” he claimed.

It could be recalled here that in December 2015 Harikrishna had termed the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee’s decision to expel him for six years as unacceptable. He also had claimed that party should have expelled the senior leaders instead of taking action against him. The KPCC had expelled him for contesting the Legislative Council polls as a rebel candidate against the party’s official candidate.

Continuing the barb against Congress and its leaders, Harikrishna predicted the death of Congress in coastal Karnataka in 2018. “Tulu Nadu will become a gateway for victory for BJP in the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections,” he said.

He also said that he was not new to BJP. “Earlier I was with the other BJP (B Janardhana Poojary). Now I have joined Bharatiya Janata Party. This is in fact a homecoming," he declared.

Vociferously praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said that former’s dream of Congress Mukt Bharat will soon be a reality. “Modi hails from the land of Gandhi who drove away the British. Now, Modi will drive away the Congress,” he said.

Also Read: Cong expels JP Hegde, Harikrishna Bantwal, Reddy for six years