HUBBALLI: Assembly Opposition Leader R Ashoka on Wednesday alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is busy indulging in appeasement politics. Those who chant “Jai Shri Ram” will be sent to jail, while those involved in terror and other such activities will be treated as brothers, he added.
Addressing BJP followers who had gathered to condemn the arrest of Srikant Poojari in a 1992 case, he said Siddaramaiah wants to please his leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. Srikant Poojari’s arrest was to divert attention from the grand inauguration of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya on January 22, he charged.
Siddaramaiah is playing tricks as he is worried about the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections. In Poojari’s incident, there was no FIR or complaint, but he was still arrested with a preconceived plan in mind, Ashoka said. Congress leaders are instructing the police, and Srikant Poojari was arrested on a Saturday to make him stew in a lockup as courts would be closed on Sunday, he added.
Siddaramaiah, when he was chief minister in 2015, released 130 people through a cabinet decision despite senior police officers opposing it. Miscreants who burnt cars, tried to demolish a police station and assaulted police are brothers of Congress leaders, he alleged.
Siddaramaiah is creating a schism among communities. In his last stint, he tried to divide Veerashivas and Lingayats. Congress leaders are ready to do anything to come to power, Ashoka said.
Cop sent on leave
To blunt protests by the opposition BJP, demanding the suspension of Police Inspector Mohammad Rafiq Tahasildar, who arrested Srikant Poojari, has been sent on leave. A new inspector, BA Jadhav, has taken charge at the Town police station in Hubballi. Tahasildar has been sent on leave on the orders of the Hubballi-Dharwad police commissioner, sources said. An investigation will be conducted on the missing FIR in Srikant Poojari’s case. Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar said procedures will be conducted within the limits of the police system. She, however, refused to speak about police inspector Tahasildar.
BJP WORKERS BLACKEN CM’S PHOTO
Bengaluru: Expressing anger over a photo in which PM Modi’s face was not visible on a mobile veterinary clinic, BJP workers blackened the photo of CM Siddaramaiah on the vehicle, in Ramanagara on Wednesday. The BJP workers were staging a protest condemning the arrest of a karsevak in Hubballi. Meanwhile, the mobile vet clinic was passing by and the agitators took objection as the PM’s photo was not properly visible. They stopped the vehicle and raised slogans against the Congress state government, CM Siddaramaiah and DyCM DK Shivakumar. At this juncture, a woman agitator blackened the photo of Siddaramaiah.