MANGALURU: Posters asking Congress leaders to stay away from houses while campaigning have come up outside several homes at Kanyana village near Vittla in Bantwal constituency of Karnataka.The Kannada posters glued to walls read: “This is a Hindu house. Congress people, who supported the conversion of Ganyashri through deceitful love, are not allowed here. Even we have girl children at home.”
According to sources, Ganyashri, daughter of Sridhar Shetty, had allegedly eloped with a non-Hindu boy in November 2016, following which a missing person’s complaint was lodged with the Vittla police. Ganyashri was 21 years old then. Ganyashri’s family had to face a lot of embarrassment as they had already fixed her engagement. “The villagers, who suspected the role of some Congress leaders behind the incident, were waiting for an opportunity and hence, launched this campaign now,” said a resident.
The posters have come up on the walls of about 20 houses. A house owner, who wished not to be named, said, “They have decided to teach the Congress a fitting lesson for its minority appeasement at the expense of the interests of Hindus.”
District Minister B Ramanath Rai is locked in a keen contest with BJP’s Rajesh Naik in Bantwal. The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to stop Rai, who has won for a record six times from the constituency.
Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee president Harish Kumar sees BJP’s role in the poster episode.
Kumar alleged that BJP is well-versed in dividing people on religious lines and the posters are one such strategy of the party.He said the BJP would have done it to counter posters that have cropped up in places of the country asking its party men not to enter houses in the wake of Kathua and Unnao rape incidents.