Karnataka politics in knots over underwear!

Bengaluru: The Karnataka politics might not have seen worser days than in the last two days. While the political lingo has reached very deep to the level of underpants of the political ideologies literally, seasoned politicians have stooped down so low that they are discussing about the colour of 'chaddis' the politicians wear and it has raised astink!

There was only once in the past when the war of words about the Chaddis had happened that when 'the Pink Chaddi' movement was taken by the intellectuals against the remark on 'Pub going women' by Srirama Sena chief Pramod Muthalik in 2008. But now the mainline politicians who should be talking on policy matters are talking about it. Senior legislator and opposition leader in the state assembly S Siddaramiah on Sunday made a remark against the RSS stating that those who wear chaddis should be careful because the Congress party will disrobe them and burn their chaddis. "We will start a statewide 'chaddi burning' movement soon to show the state that the Congress party is against the ideology based government and politics. BJP in Karnataka and elsewhere in the country was following the diktats of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) We will show by burning Chaddis that Congress will not sit quietly if the governments are run by the whims and fancies of ideologues in the state" he added.

Though many of the Congressmen do not subscribe to the idea of 'chaddi burning' of Siddaramiah, they either have kept quiet or took it as a joke, like the seasoned politician himself the KPCC chief DK Shivakumar has chosen to seal his lips on the matter. All senior leaders in the party RV Deshpande, Mallikarjun Kharge, HK Patil, Shamanuru Shivashankarappa and Ramalinga Reddy and Siddaramiah's deputy in the assembly UT Khader have not even made a single comment on this development. It all began when a few activists of the NSUI stormed the residence of state education minister BC Nagesh last week and burnt some chaddis resembling those worn by RSS workers to symbolise their protest against the alleged involvement of RSS' ideology in governance in the state over the textbook issue. They had alleged that all the changes made in the school textbooks in the state were recommended by the RSS. This incident inspired Mr Siddramiah in taking up the 'Chaddi burning' movement in the state. Following Siddaramiah's statement, the BJP state bosses have also got themselves into the fight over Chaddis. National General Secretary of the BJP CT Ravi on Sunday told in Chikkamagaluru (his home constituency) that "We have loads of old Chaddis in stock. We at the RSS have stopped wearing Chaddis and have switched over to brown colour pants as a part of our uniform, I know the Congress leaders have no more political work in the state as they are losing ground rapidly they may take up the job of burning the old Chaddis"Another senior leader but with a motor mouth, MP Renukacharya MLA of Honnali in Davanagere said "let Siddaramiah also wear a Chaddi we will give him a sit suitable for his waist tailormade for him. Perhaps he will then understand the culture of RSS.