Yeddyurappa yet to prove secular credentials: Setalvad

Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa's, at the launch of his new political party, the Karnataka Janata Party had claimed that it was secular in nature. However, social activist Teesta Setalvad, who is in Karnataka, has said that Yeddyurappa needs to do a lot more to prove that he is secular by nature.

"He is yet to prove his secular credentials; something substantial ought to be done," she said.

Setalvad was speaking to reporters at the Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedile (a forum for communal harmony).

She pointed that during Yeddyurappa's tenure as the chief minister there were many incidents in which minorities were attacked. "Today he blames the RSS for this. We cannot buy this argument," she said. Setalvad also accused Yeddyurappa of allotting land to the RSS when he was the CM of Karnataka.

Speaking on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's victory, Setalvad said the lack of consolidation of anti-BJP and anti-Narendra Modi votes led the BJP to victory in the state. "The BJP got new votes to overcome the anti-incumbency votes," she said.