Karnataka: BJP slams Cong for vote bank politics over Waqf row

New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) The BJP on Friday accused the Congress of seeking to convert the lands of farmers and temples into Waqf properties due to its vote-bank politics and asserted that it would oppose such attempts "tooth and nail." Senior BJP leader and former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad cited notices served on farmers in Karnataka's Vijayapura district for allegedly encroaching on Waqf properties and alleged that a temple is also facing similar claims.

Forty-four properties of farmers have received such notices in three weeks, he told reporters.

The Congress has been doing it due to its vote bank politics, Prasad added while asserting that the BJP would "protest any such attempt tooth and nail".

Only after a row erupted that Karnataka law minister M B Patil sought to defuse the crisis by blaming a gazette error for the notices, he claimed.

At the press conference, Prasad also slammed Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant for his derogatory swipe at Shaina N C, a BJP leader who has switched to Shiv Sena to become its candidate from the Mumba Devi constituency.

He described Sawant's comments as shameful, scandalous and condemnable.

To a question about former US president and Republican nominee in the November 5 presidential polls Donald Trump's condemnation of attacks on Hindus, he said it is for the External Affairs Ministry to comment.

Trump, in a social media post, has vowed to strengthen ties with India and described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his "good friend". Bangladesh, he said, remains in a total state of chaos and alleged that his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris and her boss President Joe Biden have ignored Hindus around the world and in America. PTI