BENGALURU: Attacking the 'murder of 23 Hindu activists' campaign pitch of BJP, the state Congress Wednesday said that the claims were misleading as even people who were alive were included in the list. Congress leaders have also threatened to file defamation suits and police complaints against the BJP for publicising lies regarding the issue for electoral benefits. To counter the BJP pitch, KPCC has also decided to distribute pamphlets regarding the status of the said cases.
Communal deaths
Releasing documents regarding the same, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working president Dinesh Gundu Rao and home minister Ramalinga Reddy said that of the 23, only nine died of communal incidents.
"One of the 23, Ashok Poojary was still alive, one murder was due to land dispute, one died in an accident and 10 were murdered due to personal enmity. Only nine of the deaths were due to communal incidents," Reddy said. To a question, he said that there were links of PFI and SDPI to the nine murders in communal incidents.
On the other hand, Rao said, six murders have been committed by Hindu extremist organisations, of which three victims were Hindus. "Recently, we have filed a complaint against Chikkamagaluru MLA C T Ravi for publicising such false information. If BJP continues to propagate such lies for campaigning in rallies and social media, we will file a complaint," Rao said.
As elections approach, the agenda of BJP is clear. "Instead of discussing development, they are misleading people and indulging in destructive politics," he said. Condemning the polarising comments made by BJP leaders such as Ananthkumar Hegde, Naleenkumar Kateel and Shobha Karandlaje, he said that BJP has turned Karnataka into a laboratory to experiment 'hate politics'.