As the Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar has been slammed by BJP for sponsoring a 114-foot statue of Jesus Christ in his constituency, he hit back on Friday and said that he is fulfilling a promise made to the people of his constituency.

The Kanakapura MLA laid the foundation of the proposed 101- foot statue atop a 13-foot pedestal at Kapalibetta in Harobele village on the occasion of Christmas.

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News agency ANI quoted Shivakumar as saying, “People had told me they wanted a statue of Jesus Christ in Harobele as there was no statue of Christ in the area. I had promised that I will help and I have done my job. It is not for politics or power. One has to do some things for self-satisfaction in life,”
He further said that he had told the locals not to construct any statue unless the land belonged to them.

“I am from a rural constituency where people have given me love and strength. In my constituency, I have built hundreds of temples. More than 30 acres of property in three locations have been given to government education institutions. I have also bought properties and donated them to various organisations,” he added.

The BJP has slammed Congress leader DK Shivakumar for sponsoring statue of Jesus Christ in his constituency, terming it “appeasement politics” to toady up to Sonia Gandhi.

Shivakumar had spent his own money to buy a 10-acre government plot for the trust that is building what will be the world’s tallest monolithic statue of Jesus, his office said.

Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa tweeted: “To impress their leader, those in the Congress who opposed the construction of a grand temple dedicated to Lord Ram, born in our holy country, are going to build from their own money a statue to Jesus, who was born in the Vatican (sic).”

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not the Vatican.

“Even (Congress leader PC) Siddaramaiah cannot stop him (Shivakumar) from becoming KPCC president now,” Eshwarappa scoffed.

BJP parliamentarian and former Union minister Anantkumar Hegde tweeted, “Here is the Tihar returned great man who, for the sake of a position, is seeking to please the Italian woman by setting up a huge Jesus statue, thus displaying his gallantry.”

He added, “It won’t be a surprise if more slaves within the Congress compete with each other to do appeasement politics. The Italian woman gives importance to only those who have converted to Christianity.”

Another BJP parliamentarian, Partap Simha, asked whether the statue was part of a plot to convert the Vokkaligas of Kanakapura.

Shivakumar reacted by saying that hundreds of Hindu temples had been built in his constituency and that he was not doing it for publicity.