Bengaluru: Amid Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge's call to ban RSS in the state, turncoat Congress MLA HD Thammaiah stirred a hornet's nest by making comments in favour of the saffron outfit, claiming he is a proud Sangh volunteer.
Thammaiah, who joined Congress after BJP denied him a ticket to contest from Chikkamagluru constituency, made these remarks at a felicitation function on Saturday.
"I was in BJP for 15 years. But even today I am still a proud volunteer of the Sangh. Although I am a Congress MLA, I am proud to say that I am a disciplined volunteer of the Sangh. I am also secular and want to take all the communities together," he said.
Thammaiah had joined Congress in February this year, months ahead of the Karnataka assembly elections. He was known to be a close aide of BJP heavyweight leader and National General Secretary CT Ravi.
Earlier, Congress MLA and son of AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge had threatened to ban RSS and Bajrang Dal, if they made any bid to disturb peace in Karnataka.
Hitting back hard, Karnataka BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel dared Kharge to ban RSS and Bajrang Dal by saying if the Congress made any attempt in this regard, it would burn to ashes. (UNI)