BJP Slams Telangana Chief Minister's "Bihar DNA" Remark, Demands Apology

The BJP on Thursday criticised Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's "Bihar DNA" remark and demanded that the Congress and other members of the opposition INDIA bloc condemn his comment and ask him to apologise.

Mr Reddy reportedly said during a recent interaction with journalists that K Chandrashekar Rao, the first chief minister of Telangana, has "Bihari genes", indicating that he was a better choice for the state than KCR.

"My DNA is Telangana. KCR's DNA is Bihar. He belongs to Bihar. KCR's caste is Kurmi. They migrated from Bihar to Vijayanagaram and from there to Telangana. Telangana DNA is better than Bihar DNA," Mr Reddy had allegedly said.

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad termed Mr Reddy's remarks "very shameful, divisive and arrogant" and demanded that the Congress and other INDIA bloc members condemn it.

He also demanded an apology from Mr Reddy for making such remarks against the people of Bihar.

"I condemn his remarks," Mr Prasad told PTI at the Parliament complex.

He further said, "Does he want to break the country? The big question here is why are the INDIA alliance members silent. Why has Nitish Kumar not said anything (on Reddy's remarks) so far? What are the Congress members in Bihar doing?" 

Mr Prasad also questioned the silence of former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on Reddy's remarks.

"Your chief minister calls one region's DNA weak and makes very shameful casteist remarks against his own party leaders (who are in Bihar), this is very unfortunate. We condemn it. The Congress party should also condemn it if they have even a little understanding of the significance of unity in the country," he said.

The BJP's Buxar MP and Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey said Mr Reddy's "petty" remarks have hurt the sentiments of the people of Bihar and demanded that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar respond to it.

"Congress leaders are creating a dirty atmosphere in the country... The kind of petty remarks that the Congress leader, who is... the chief minister (of Telangana), has made, people will give them a befitting reply," Mr Choubey told PTI.

BJP MP and former deputy chief minister of Bihar Sushil Modi also hit out at the Congress and its INDIA bloc allies over Mr Reddy's remarks and demanded that they ask the Telangana chief minister to apologise.

He said, "The INDI Alliance members kept insulting Hindu Dharma and Sanatan Dharma. Now they have come to Bihar DNA. Is it appropriate to say that Telangana DNA is better than the Bihar DNA and make such insulting comments against the people of another state?" 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)