Cheluvarayaswamy’s ‘cheap popularity for election result’ remark goes viral; minister says statement twisted

BENGALURU, MANDYA: Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy, who stoked a controversy when he said the Congress had to indulge in “cheap popularity” to win the election, on Wednesday blamed the BJP and the media for ‘distorting’ his statement.

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In an undated video which went viral on Tuesday, Cheluvarayaswamy can be heard saying, “The issue of freebies was discussed nationwide and we too discussed that it is not a good development and that in future where would this culture of freebies lead to. But now, we too have taken the same path, because ,somewhere, when we think about the election, the results and the fact that we can work only if we are elected to power, then the election result becomes important. And, for the result, we have to indulge in cheap popularity and other stuff whether we like it or not, whether Siddaramaiah likes it or not, and accept some things”.

Cheluvarayaswamy later claimed his remark was twisted.

On Tuesday morning, reacting to queries about his remarks, he said, “I never said gimmicks. We have to give some pro-people programmes and work towards implementing them. There is talk that there is too much of freebies like in Tamil Nadu, but we had made some promises during the election and we will fulfill them. The BJP did not keep the promises they made to the people. They can make the video viral, I’m not bothered”, he said.

Later in the day, speaking to media persons in Nagamangala, he said, “I didn’t say cheap popularity was necessary for the election result, my statement was twisted. Let’s us do what will help the people”. He then went on a tirade against some media persons for questioning about his remarks in the video.