Siddaramaiah must have been asleep when I was debating in LS: B Sriramulu

Bengaluru: A day after former Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah ridiculed senior BJP leader and Ballari strongman, B. Sriramulu, claiming he would have more knowledge of the criminal sections of the law than the Constitution, the latter took to Twitter to hit back at him on Tuesday.

Mr Siddaramaiah seemed to have touch a nerve with his taunt at a campaign rally in Ballari for the November 3 bypoll that Mr Sriramulu did not know what Article 371-J of the Constitution giving special status to Hyderabad-Karnataka was , but knew all about sections 326, 307 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code.

His less than subtle hint at the BJP leader’s alleged criminal past was clearly not lost on the latter as he tweeted, "Section 326 applies to the murder of several Hindu workers, the abetment of the suicide of honest officers reminds us of section 307 and section 420 applies to all those who criticised the JD (S) in the elections, but finally joined hands with it.” As for the allegation that he did not address Karnataka’s problems in Parliament, Mr Sriramulu said that as MP he had participated in 16 debates and asked over 570 questions in the Lok Sabha.

Comparing his record with that of Congress president, Rahul Gandhi he said he had asked no questions in the present Lok Sabha and participated in only 16 debates himself. “Mr Siddaramaiah must have been fast asleep when I was taking part in the debates,” he quipped sarcastically, taking a potshot at the former Chief Minister for his habit of dozing off both inside and outside the legislature.