SC order in CBI case a big win against despots: Siddaramaiah

Former Karnataka chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "autocratic midnight coup" in the CBI and said the Supreme Court's order reinstating Alok Kumar Verma as the agency's director was "a big win against despots".

Hailing the apex court verdict, Siddaramaiah, coordinator of theCongress-JDS coalition in the state, saidthe prime minister's "autocratic midnight coup" in the Central Bureau of Investigation has received "a major setback".

"@narendramodi govt's autocratic midnight coup &an attempt to subvert investigating institutions has received a major setback through SC judgement which reinstated #AlokVerma back as #CBIChief. This is a big win against despots &will push @BJP4India back for any renewed attempts," he tweeted.

Siddaramiah's comments triggered an angry reaction from the BJP, which dubbed him 'Twitteramaiah' and questioned his moral authority to criticise the prime minister, saying he himself had 'subverted' the Lokayukta institution in Karnataka.

"DearTwitterramaiah, either you are short of memory or you have a split personality, On what moral grounds do you tweet aboutinvestigation agency when you yourself subverted a promptinstitution like the Lokayukta in Karnataka to make way for acrippled ACB," the state BJP tweeted.

Former minister and BJP MLA Suresh Kumar also attacked Siddaramaiah asking "Sri Siddaramaiah Ji, who created the ACB (anti-corruption bureau) to subvert Lokayukta in Karnataka."