PM Modi ignores party brass in Karnataka

Bengaluru: The five years of laid-back attitude, disconnect with the people, and reign of corruption and arrogance of the BJP state unit got a thorough beating on Saturday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not acknowledge the presence of BJP leaders at the HAL airport as he arrived in Bengaluru to greet the scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

A grim-looking Modi did not even cast his gaze on the waiting BJP leaders, and MLAs, but did wave towards the people who had gathered away from the VIP enclosure where all the BJP leaders had holed up. The lineup of BJP leaders included State BJP president and MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, MLA R Ashoka, and many others. Later, Modi drove to the ISRO satellite centre and met the scientists.

What drove Modi to ignore his own party leaders in the state appears to have stemmed from the fact that the leaders and MLAs had not done their footwork in the 2023 assembly elections, due to which the party lost the elections badly, and also from the charges of corruption and arrogance.

Following the loss of face at the airport, MLA R Ashoka, in a bid to keep the incident away from the public's view, had charged the state government for not following protocols when the Prime Minister arrived in the city. He had charged the state government for the absence of Chief Minister S Siddaramiah or Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar at the airport to receive the Prime Minister. Ashoka was also unaware of the fact that the PMO had sent a letter to the chief secretary to bypass the protocol as his visit was not an official one. In such cases, it is not binding on the Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister, or even the Home Minister of the state to receive the Prime Minister.

Ashoka and Nalin Kumar Kateel wanted to take it further to morbid levels but a quick press briefing by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar stating that the PMO had sent a letter to the government on his visit be treated as unofficial. But the BJP leaders Nalin Kumar Kateel and Ashoka had already put their foot in their mouths by falsely accusing the government.