"UP people have taken off Congress's chaddis in front of the entire country," said Pralhad Joshi. (File)
Amid the "chaddi" (shorts) row in Karnataka, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi hit out at the Congress saying their "chaddis" have been "stripped" off by the people.
The row started after some members of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress, burnt a pair of khaki shorts outside state education minister BC Nagesh's residence against the alleged "saffronisation" of school textbooks in the state.
"Because people have stripped their chaddis, they are burning RSS chaddi," Mr Joshi said in Vijaypur.
He added, "Uttar Pradesh people have taken off their chaddis in front of the entire country. They have been stripped off in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and now their chaddis have loosened in Rajasthan with the party infighting of Pilot and others. In Chhattisgarh, it is loosened. In Madhya Pradesh, they have stripped off your chaddi. You have lost your chaddi everywhere."
Earlier, former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah attacked the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and asked why the post of RSS chief has never been occupied by a Dalit or a person from Other Backward Castes (OBCs).
"I am telling you from the beginning that RSS is a non-secular organisation. Has a Dalit, OBC or a member from minority communities ever become Sarsanghchalak? What else can chaddis do? They do chaddi work only, chaddis do chaddi work," said Siddramaiah in Hubli.
Siddaramaiah was responding to a question about RSS workers collecting shorts to send them to the Congress office. RSS workers in Mandya district have collected shorts to send to the Congress office as a mark of their protest against Siddaramaiah's remarks against RSS Khaki shorts.
On Sunday, the Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly had said that 'chaddis' would be burnt as a sign of protest against the RSS for alleged "saffronisation" of school textbooks in the state.
Responding to Siddaramaiah's remarks, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said that the Congress leader should talk about the development and future of the state.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)