Siddaramaiah was also taunted by the BJP's Shobha Karandlaje. (File)
A video of Congress leader Siddaramaiah's conversation with party men has been shared by the ruling BJP as an example of the former Karnataka Chief Minister playing caste and religion politics for votes. In a series of tweets, Siddaramaiah has defended himself and also accused the BJP of misinterpreting a "casual private conversation" to derive "sadistic pleasures".
In the video, which is in wide circulation online, Siddaramaiah is heard commenting that the Lingayats are not as much with Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa as they used to be and the Vokkaligas are no more with his predecessor HD Kumaraswamy.
A man says "Lingayats are a bit disturbed with the BJP". To which, Mr Siddaramaiah appears to reply: "See, it isn't like it was before for Yediyurappa with the Lingayats. Even the Vokkaligas and Kumaraswamy..."
Sharing the video, the BJP tweeted: "India is progressing forward. Will the master of Appeasement politics ever grow beyond caste?"
Mr Siddaramaiah was also taunted by the BJP's Shobha Karandlaje, who tweeted that the "undisputed hero of appeasement politics" had not grown beyond caste and religion and his idea of winning elections was only on caste and religious equations.
"Casual private discussion at my residence is being misinterpreted by @BJP4Karnataka leaders to derive sadistic pleasures. Illumination of truth shall always prevail over the darkness of lies. This will be my Deepavali message to my political rivals," Mr Siddaramaiah said in his tweets posted with the hashtag #SatyamevaJayathe (truth will prevail). He called the video "targeted fake news".
"People who criticize that I subscribe to caste based politics, should introspect that if their party subscribes to any of Gandhiji, Ambedkar, Basavanna or Kuvempu's principles. I am ready for an open debate. It is also my challenge," he wrote.
He claimed that the statement in the video was "my expression of happiness that people see beyond the caste to decide their representatives. This is a sign of social progress & matured electorate. What is wrong if I say that people are being secular?"