The Congress in Karnataka on Tuesday hit out at the BJP for its decision to paint thousands of Viveka' classrooms in saffron by saying the ruling party leaders should first have their houses painted in that colour.

"Let the BJP which wants to paint the schools with saffron colour answer these questions. Why haven't the BJP leaders painted their cars and homes with saffron colour? Why they did not even paint the compound wall of their houses with saffron colour? Let them colour their houses with saffron and then go to paint the schools," the Congress Karnataka unit tweeted.

The State government has proposed construction of 7,601 classrooms under 'Viveka', a new scheme named after saint-philosopher Swami Vivekananda.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday launched the scheme on the occasion of Children's Day by laying the foundation stone in Government Higher Primary School at Madiyal in Kalaburgi district.

The Congress alleged the State has slipped to the 14th place in the education performance and 29th slot in the school infrastructure indices.

In terms of toilets in schools, the State dropped from 13th spot in 2017-18 to 20th place now, the Congress alleged.

Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said: "Regarding this saffronisation, it should be noted that it is not BJP money but public money. Have people asked for saffronisation or have they got the mandate to do so? Have they got the mandate for tampering with history? Bommai has defended the government's move.

"Why do people turn red with the very name of saffron? What's wrong to have saffron colour? There's saffron colour in the (national) tricolour. Swami Vivekananda himself used to wear a saffron robe", the Chief Minister has said.