Rahul mocks Modi for garlanding Basavanna in London

Bengaluru, April 26 (IANS) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his garlanding of Karnataka's 12th century social reformer Basavanna's bust in London recently and accused him of not practising the saint poet's preachings.

"Modi has garlanded the bust of Basavanna, but does not follow his words or practise the reformer's preaching to 'Walk the Talk'," said Gandhi at a public meeting at Honnavar in Karnataka's Uttara Kannada district, about 450 km from here.

During his three-day visit to London from April 18 to 20, Modi garlanded Basavanna's bust located at Albert Embankment Gardens on the banks of Thames River in the British capital on April 18.

Later, during an interaction -- Bharat ki Baat, Sabke Saath -- with the Indian Diaspora at the Westminster Hall in London, Modi mentioned Basavanna's "vachanas" (sermons) and how they are so relevant even in the 21st century.

Criticising Modi for calling the Siddaramaiah government in the state "a 10 per cent commission sarkar", Gandhi questioned the Prime Minister's right to speak on corruption, sitting next to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s chief ministerial face B.S. Yeddyurappa, who "went to jail on corruption charges".

As the party's first Chief Minister in south India, Yeddyurappa resigned on July 31, 2011 after the state's anti-graft watchdog (Lokayukta) named him in a probe report on the multi-crore mining scam that rocked the state for over a decade from 2001-10.

Gandhi, who is on a two-day visit to the poll-bound southern state starting Thursday, launched the ruling party's campaign for the May 12 legislative assembly elections in the coastal region.

He participated in road shows, held interactive sessions and addressed corner meetings in Ankola, Kumta, Honnavar and Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district.

At Kumta, Gandhi said Siddaramaiah had waived loans of thousands of farmers to provide them relief from distress and agrarian crisis due to successive droughts in the state, whereas the Modi government did nothing for them.

Gandhi will release the party's election manifesto in the port city of Mangaluru on Friday, along with senior leaders like Karnataka in-charge K.C. Venugopal and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.