MYSURU: Bharatiya Janata Party leader CP Yogeshwar, who was hoping to contest the December 5 bypoll from Hunsur, was all set. Publicity material and sarees, ostensibly to be distributed among voters, were kept ready. But his hopes were dashed when the party announced A H Vishwanath, who crossed over from JDS on Thursday, as the official candidate.
As if rubbing salt into the wound, election officials seized over 30,000 sarees along with handbills featuring Yogeshwar here on Saturday for violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
The sarees, packed in about 425 sacks along with handbills showing Yogeshwar as the BJP’s candidate for Hunsur, were seized from a godown in Hootagalli Industrial Area based on a tip-off. On Friday, the publicity material was found dumped by the side of the Ring Road. Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah accused the BJP of indulging in irregularities.
Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah said that the seizure of sarees had exposed BJP in bribing voters. Congress candidate from Hunsur Assembly segment, H P Manjunath, also alleged that A H Vishwanath had a hand in the episode.
According to election officials, the godown belongs to one K S Nagaraj of Kaveri Layout who had rented it to M K Jayaram, a resident of Vijayanagar, for the period between October 15 and November 15. Jayaram had reportedly planned to move out the sacks of sarees, but the godown was raided before he could do so.
Dr K C Prashanth Kumar, Mysuru division Deputy Conservator of Forests and MCC Nodal Officer, told TNIE that a case has been lodged against Nagaraj and tenant Jayaram under Section 171 B of the IPC.
District Congress president B J Vijaykumar and others have lodged a complaint with Returning Officer Venkataraju. They also demanded that the police register an FIR against Yogeshwar for violating the Representation of the People Act.
However, local BJP leaders have denied any links to the seized articles. “This is a planted move to target us. Moreover, Yogeshwar is not the official candidate and the articles were stocked at Mysuru,” claimed Hunsur City BJP president Bhavani Rajendra.