Cong's Hariprasad takes 'swine flu' dig at Shah, BJP hits back calls him 'mentally ill'

Senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad Thursday mocked BJP president Amit Shah for his swine flu condition, triggering a tsunami of angry reactions from the BJP which hit back saying flu is curable but "mental illness" of leaders of the opposition party is difficult to treat.

The Congress sought to distance itself from its Rajya Sabha MP Hariprasad, who in Bengaluru said Shah contracted swine flu since his party made an alleged bid to destabilise the Congress-JDS government in Karnataka.

Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said the party could never think of wishing illness to any BJP leader, while drawing attention to its president Rahul Gandhi's wishes for good health to Union minister Arun Jaitley, who is in the US for health check-up.

Speaking at a Congress protest in Bengaluru against the alleged attempt by the BJP to dislodge the Congress-JDS government in Karnataka by luring the ruling coalition MLAs, Hariprasad in Kannada said,"As a few legislators have already come back, Amit Shah is shaken and has got fever. It is not a normal fever. It is swine flu."
He added that "You should know that if you try to destabilise the Karnataka government, not just swine flu, you will get vomiting and dysentery also."