Belagavi (Karnataka) [India], January 21 : Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday morning received Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and party MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Belagavi Airport. They left their residences in Delhi early morning to join the program commemorating 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi becoming the Congress president.
Along with Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi, prominent leaders including CM Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar and other party leaders have gathered in Belagavi for the 'Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan' rally.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar hailed Mahatma Gandhi ahead of the 'Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan' rally scheduled to be held in Belagavi district today. He said that all leaders of the world have accepted the leadership and non-violence movement accomplished by the father of the nation.
This is a programme to mark 100 years of Gandhi as Congress president and even though he is dead, his values are still alive, Shivakumar added.
"Today, there is not just a Congress programme in Belagavi. This is a programme to mark 100 years of Gandhiji as Congress president and even though he is dead, his values are still alive. All the leaders of the world have accepted his leadership and his non-violence movement and we want to take that legacy forward. The history of Congress is the history of the country. So we want to take it forward," Shivakumar told reporters.
However, when asked to comment on Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) reaction to the program, he labelled the BJP as the "Godse" party, saying that it doesn't know about sacrifices and the freedom movement.
"I do not want to comment anything about the BJP, those who do not know about the freedom movement. They don't know what is sacrifice. We don't want to hear whatever the Godse party (is saying)," Shivakumar said.
In 1924, the Congress session was chaired by Mahatma Gandhi in Karnataka's Belgaum district, which is now called Belagavi. The rally is being held to commemorate the same historic event.
Earlier, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge said that the program to commemorate 100 years of Gandhi's presidency was postponed due to the demise of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and was being organised on January 21.
He added that the rally was being held to send a message to the BJP government in the centre.