Bangalore: Brushing aside the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) threat to file a defamation suit against it for its newspaper advertisements on the Uma Bharti issue, the Congress in Karnataka today (Sep 5, 2004) asserted it stood by every word of it and said it would also consider filing criminal and civil suits against the saffron party for "dishonouring" the national flag.

Charging BJP with misusing the national flag "every day" and dishonouring it to serve the party's own interests, KPCC (Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee) president B Janardhan Poojary told reporters in Bangalore, "We will also consider filing criminal and civil suits against them."

Asked when the party would do so, Poojary said, "We will see when they (BJP) will file their suits. Depending on that, the KPCC will decide." The Government would also be told to consider initiating legal action against the BJP, he said.

Poojary's counter-threat came following the BJP's threat to file civil and criminal suits against not only Poojary, but also Chief Minister N Dharam Singh for the party's newspaper advertisements, which the BJP said were "false, motivated and defamatory".

Raising its pitch on the Uma Bharti issue, the BJP has launched a seven-day stir in Bangalore since September one, with the party's top guns and activists courting arrest, seeking to build pressure for withdrawal of cases against Bharti.

Poojary reiterated that the KPCC was not in favour of withdrawal of cases against Bharti. The party's position had been conveyed to the Chief Minister, who, he said, had responded positively to it.