‘Spewing lies’: Siddaramaiah attacks Amit Shah over PFI issue

Shah had attacked the erstwhile Congress government over the issue at a rally in Mandya Friday and at a booth workers’ convention in Bengaluru Saturday.

Karnataka Opposition leader Siddaramaiah (FILE)

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Karnataka Opposition leader Siddaramaiah Saturday attacked Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the latter’s claims that he had withdrawn cases against the activists of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI) during his tenure as the chief minister. Reacting to the allegations, Siddaramaiah said Shah was “spewing lies”.

Shah had attacked the erstwhile Congress government over the issue at a rally in Mandya Friday and at a booth workers’ convention in Bengaluru Saturday.

“Karnataka has a BJP government. What stops Shah from looking at the government records to see which cases against PFI workers were withdrawn? He is spewing lies needlessly,” Siddaramaiah tweeted.

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“Either he should prove his allegations or apologise for his lies,” he added.

The Congress leader claimed to have information that the BJP had a tacit understanding with the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The SDPI is the political wing of the PFI.

“Yet, they make allegations against us. I will release documents about their understanding in the near future,” he added.

Shah had said that while the Congress government had withdrawn cases against the PFI, the BJP had made sure that the organisation was banned. The PFI and its affiliate groups, except the SDPI, were banned for five years by the Union government in September this year.

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In its notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that Karnataka was among the three states that had recommended the ban.

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