Accusing the Centre of betraying Kannadigas by not allowing candidates to take the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection exams in Kannada, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Tuesday called Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa a "mouse" for not standing up to the Centre on it.
In a series of tweets with "#IBPSMosa" (#IBPSCheating) he hit out at the ruling BJP at the centre and the state on the issue and demanded the resignations of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a Rajya Sabha member from the state, and also Yediyurappa if they cannot ensure justice to Kannadigas.
"Narendra Modi is betraying Kannadigas by not allowing candidates to take IBPS exams in Kannada. Latest notification by IBPS is an example for BJP's anti-Kannada stand. Central govt should immediately address this and ensure justice to Kannadigas," Siddaramaiah tweeted.
Noting that Karnataka has elected 25 MPs to the Lok Sabha, he asked "What are these MPs doing? Though slavery is abolished, BJP Karnataka MPs are behaving like slaves of Narendra Modi. Shame on them!!" "Yediyurappa's followers call him Huli (Tiger) but in reality he is ili (Mouse). He hides in burrows when he has to stand up in front of Narendra Modi. Let him resign if he cannot ensure justice to Kannadigas," he added.
Pointing out that IBPS had called for applications to fill more than 3,000 vacant clerical positions in 11 nationalised banks, of which 407 posts are in Karnataka, the former Chief Minister said injustice to Kannada will result in huge unemployment by leaving out Kannadigas in the competition. "Candidates were able to write IBPS exams in regional languages before 2014.
After BJP came to power, rules were changed to allow English and Hindi only. We had even written a letter to Narendra Modi to protest against this," he said. Further, noting that most of the schemes of the Central and State governments are implemented through banks, on which farmers, labourers, women and many others are dependent, he said rural people are facing harassment from staff who don't know Kannada.
"Being elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, Nirmala Sitharaman has constantly betrayed Kannadigas and Kannada. She has continued the same with respect to IBPS exams. She is unfit to represent people of Karnataka in Rajya Sabha. She should resign if she has any shame," he said.