Mysuru: Mysuru-Kodagu Member of Parliament Pratap Simha, on Sunday, said, the chief minister and Congressmen have no moral right to speak about the BJP and B R Ambedkar.

Reacting to the statement made by Siddaramaiah that BJP has no right take Ambedkar’s name, Simha, at a press conference here said, Siddaramaiah and Congress leaders have no moral rights or dignity to speak about Babasaheb and BJP.

It may be mentioned Siddaramaiah, at a DSS convention here on Saturday had said that BJP plays politics on Hindutva plank, and Ambedkar had converted from Hinduism to Buddism due to inequalities in the religion.

Pratap Simha said, let the CM give out the names of books written by Ambedkar that he has read, so far, and suggested him to read ‘Thoughts on Pakistan’ authored by Babasaheb.

Speaking about Congress leaders, the MP said, “Nehru was the only person who awarded himself ‘Bharat Ratna’, the highest civilian award.

The party did not bother to confer the award on Ambedkar. “Bharat Ratna was conferred on Ambedkar by V P Singh’s government supported by BJP,” the MP said.

Continuing his tirade against 131-year-old party, the MP alleged that it was the Congress party, which had fielded a candidate against Ambedkar to ensure his defeat in the first general elections in 1952. The party had fielded Ambedkar’s secretary against the architect of Indian Constitution in the election, Pratap Simha said.

The MP said, the ideologies of Ambedkar and BJP are similar – welfare of the deprived class and the nation. BJP is the first party to celebrate Ambedkar’s birth anniversary and developed many memorials in the name of Babasaheb, he added.

Pratap Simha said that BJP will field Srinivas Prasad as its candidate in Nanjangud by-elections. The BJP candidate will win the by-polls, a prelude to 2018 Assembly polls.

“Prasad will join the party officially on January 2, at Bengaluru. Prasad is an able leader. The Congress party, which has a history of ruling the country for about 50 years, is struggling to find a suitable candidate to field against Prasad.

The results of the bypoll will indicate political wave in the state. BJP will come to power in the state in 2018 and Yeddyurappa will be the next the CM, he said.

The ruling Congress, which did not focus on development of Nanjangud constituency in last three-and-a-half years, has been launching various development works with ministers frequenting the constituency to garner support of the people, MP said.