BENGALURU: Days after communal violence in Sirsi and Honnavar, the BJP and Congress have now taken their blame-game to social media platforms. Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy and Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ananth Kumar Hegde took to Facebook, blaming and calling each other ‘inefficient’ over the violence in Sirsi and Honnavar following the recent death of 19-year-old Paresh Mesta under mysterious circumstances in Honnavar.
On Thursday, Ananth Kumar Hegde on Facebook termed the violence as ‘police-sponsored communal riots’ and said that with people like Ramalinga Reddy and adviser to the Home ministry, Kempaiah, one can expect a Maarikamba festival — celebrated in Bhatkal and which has witnessed several incidents of communal violence in the past.Ramalinga Reddy countered Ananth Kumar saying he was unfit to be a Member of Parliament (MP) and Union minister.
After Mesta’s body was found in Shettykere Lake of Honnavar on December 8, violence broke out in Sirsi and Honnavar. At least 62 people were arrested during the protest march in Sirsi. A local court granted them bail.After their release, Ananth Kumar wrote on his Facebook wall: “His (Siddaramaiah’s) own court jester-colleagues are sure to drop him in mid-course (sic) and escape from the scene. What can his own consultant (Kempaiah) or the useless Home Minister (referring to Ramalinga Reddy) do when the plans of supporting the terrorists and repressing the real patriots are in action!”
Ramalinga Reddy on Facebook reacted to Ananth Kumar’s statement saying the state government has handed over the Paresh Mesta death case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). “Whoever are disrupting peace and creating fear are terrorists,” he wrote. He continued: “People will answer for the violence that you are creating based on the instructions of your BJP president (Amit Shah),” and that the state government was committed to ensure that law and order remains intact.