Wait, What? Why Amit Shah's Words On PM Sounded Wrong In Karnataka Rally

BENGALURU: The BJP has been thwacked by the second flub this week in Karnataka, where elections will be held on May 12. This time, BJP president Amit Shah's words at a rally were lost in translation, by a wide margin, thanks to the party's senior leader Prahlad Joshi.

Prahlad Joshi was the one who corrected Amit Shah earlier this week when he said by mistake that the government of BS Yeddyurappa (the BJP's chief ministerial candidate) was the "number one most corrupt". He obviously meant to say the Congress government of Siddaramaiah.

On Tuesday, Prahlad Joshi translated Amit Shah's speech to a large public gathering in Devanagiri to say: "The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) will do nothing for the poor."

Amit Shah had said in Hindi: "The Siddaramaiah government could not develop Karnataka. You have faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cast your vote for Yeddyurappa. We will transform Karnataka into the number one state."

Prahlad Joshi's translation, inexplicably, was this: "Narendra Modi will do nothing for the poor and the downtrodden... there is the government of honourable Modi-ji in the centre. Ensure Yeddyurappa wins and together will transform Karnataka into the number one state."

Amit Shah, who is campaigning in Mysuru today, referred to his gaffe earlier this week: "I made a mistake in my speech and from Rahul Gandhi to Siddaramaiah, everyone made a joke. I can make a mistake but people will not vote for you Siddaramaiah. They will not make this mistake."
 On Tuesday, Amit Shah, while blasting Karnataka's Congress government at a press conference, said: "Recently a retired Supreme Court judge said if there was ever a competition of the most corrupt government then the Yeddyurappa government is number one..."

Sitting next to him, Mr Yeddyurappa glanced at him in surprise. Then Prahlad Joshi was seen whispering something to the BJP chief, who quickly corrected himself.

But the prompt correction did nothing to stop the Congress from gleefully tweeting and retweeting the video.

In course of a Twitter mini-storm, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah "thanked" the BJP president.

Mr Yeddyurappa was chief minister of the first BJP government in Karnataka from 2008. He was forced to step down in August 2011 in a haze of corruption allegations by Karnataka's ombudsman or Lokayukta Santosh Hegde. He was accused in a mining scam. In 2016, he was acquitted of charges of accepting kickbacks worth Rs 40 crore.

It could be galling for Mr Yeddyurappa's camp that this was the second time Amit Shah made a blooper like this. 

After the polls on May 12, the results will be out on May 15.