BJP trashes Congress’ ‘MeToo’ charge against Surya

Bengaluru, March 28 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday trashed Congress' "MeToo" charge against its candidate Tejasvi Surya in the Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency, which goes to poll on April 18.

"A nervous Congress is indulging in slander as it is afraid of its candidate (B.K. Hariprasad) badly losing to Surya in the electoral battle," BJP spokesperson G. Madhusudan told IANS here.

The Congress, he said was stunned by the BJP's choice to field a young, dynamic and promising youth with whom not only millennials, but also the present generation of people identified.

The BJP on Tuesday named 28-year-old Surya, a fiery Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) worker and a lawyer in the Karnataka High Court to contest from Bangalore South, a constituency dominated by IT workers.

On Thursday, the Twitter handle of Karnataka Congress sent out a screengrab of tweets by businesswoman Som Dutta, who in her interactions with author Shefali Vaidya said: "Dear Shefaliji, I request you to not blindly promote Tejasvi without knowing his full truth. Do you actually want a womaniser, abuser and a woman-beater to lead us? Need proof? I will share. Not every Hindu is dharmik and great speeches don't make a great man."

Replying to @madhusdhanrao7 @ShefVaidya and @Tejasvi_Surya, Dutta also tweeted "Karma gets to everyone my friend. I don't believe in public spats and defamation. Should the party not do background checks before giving ticket. My parents have suffered too much coz of my choice can't let them suffer anymore."

The Congress further tweeted, "Is @Tejasvi_Surya another MJ Akbar in the making? Dear @BJP4India, @Tejasvi_Surya seems to be a great choice. #Bangalore South will remember. #MeToo #LokSabhaPolls2019."

Madhusudan hit back saying, "The Congress has deliberately tweeted against Surya after he filed papers on Tuesday and not before though the 'MeToo' movement has been on for more than a year. This is nothing but mudslinging."

Though the woman deleted her comments against Surya on her Twitter account, a petty Congress has posted its tweet with a screenshot of her posts without verifying the facts, he said.

Rubbishing the Congress tweet as a pervert act for trying to liken him (Surya) to the former Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Madhusudan said the people would not get carried away by its dirty tricks.

MJ Akbar resigned on October 17, 2018 after many women journalists alleged that he had sexually abused them in the 1980s and 1990s when he was the editor of "The Telegraph" and "The Asian Age".