Tipu Jayanti will spell doom for Cong: BJP

Bengaluru, Oct 24: The BJP on Monday continued its tirade against the state government for its decision to celebrate Tipu Sultan Jayanti on November 10, even as the ruling Congress accused the saffron party of double standards on the issue.

“The Tipu Jayanti will spell doom for the Congress government in the 2018 polls,” BJP Yuva Morcha state president and MP Pratap Simha said at a state-level convention organised by the Anti-Tipu Sultan Jayanti Forum here. “There was a fire mishap on the sets of a serial on Tipu Sultan that filmmaker Sanjay Khan was doing. Vijay Mallya, who bought Tipu Sultan’s sword, lost his business. Similarly, Siddaramaiah is celebrating Tipu Sultan and his political empire, too, will fall,” he said.

From October 25 to November 10, the Anti-Tipu Sultan Jayanti Forum will stage protests and rallies, its convenor Addanda Cariappa said.

The Congress, however, defended the Tipu Jayanti. “Tipu Sultan was a patriot. No one can change history,” former Union Minister C K Jaffer Sharief said. “BJP leaders are opposing Tipu Jayanti to appease a few people,” he said. KPCC president G Parameshwara, too, hit out at BJP. “Their opposition only shows their mentality.”

The Congress recently released a picture of BJP leader Jagadish Shettar participating in a Tipu Sultan Jayanti when he was the chief minister, accusing the saffron party of double standards.