Slamming Congress for opposing the BJP government's decision to unveil Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's portrait inside the Assembly in Suvarna Vidhana Soudha at Belagavi, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Monday said whether former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wanted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's photo inside the Assembly.
"There must be ideological differences but Savarkar is a freedom fighter. Ask Siddaramaiah, whose poster must be put, of Dawood Ibrahim's?” Joshi questioned.
"Savarkar's photo is also in Parliament. He was a great nationalist leader. We may also have differences in roles of some of the then Congress leaders in the freedom movement but we never opposed for the sake of opposing. It is not fair for Congress leaders to oppose whatever decision the BJP government took," he told reporters.
“Congress is doing appeasement politics. They keep talking about their role in the freedom struggle and their sacrifices. The Congress which fought the freedom struggle was a different party. Now we have a duplicate Congress. Now we have fake Congress,” he said.
Savarkar's life-size portrait was unveiled inside the Assembly chamber at the 'Suvarna Vidhana Soudha' at Belagavi drawing criticism from opposition Congress, which alleged that it was a unilateral decision, keeping them in the dark.