BELAGAVI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while addressing a rally at Hukkeri in Chikkodi Lok Sabha constituency on Friday, took on the Siddaramaiah government over the murder of 23-year-old Neha Hiremath, and said if the State Government cannot properly investigate the killing, then the case should be handed over to the CBI. Shah, who was campaigning for Chikkodi BJP candidate Annasaheb Jolle, said the Central agency would ensure stringent punishment for Neha’s killer.
“I met Neha’s mother and found that there was pressure on the girl to convert. The State Government should hand over the case to CBI if it is not possible for it to investigate the case properly. The CBI will hang the killer upside down and straighten up things,’’ the Home Minister added.
Neha, a 23-year-old student, was brutally killed on her college campus in Hubballi last month.
Lambasting the Congress government over the issue of law and order, Shah said, “The 10-month-old Congress government in Karnataka has destroyed the entire state. If you trust PM Narendra Modi and vote for the BJP, the party will develop Karnataka in the coming days. The BJP has plans to take up several irrigation projects and also link several rivers.”
Shah said for the last 70 years, the Congress put the issues of Ayodhya Ram Mandir, Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Corridor project, development of Somnath Madir, Kedar Dham, and Badari Dham on the back burner due to its appeasement politics. He alleged that AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stayed away from the Ram Mandir inauguration ceremony in Ayodhya, fearing their party’s vote bank.
Shah asked the gathering if they want the ‘Parivarvad Congress’ or the ‘Parivarvad mitanewali’ BJP to come to power after the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. He asked the people whether Kashmir belonged to India or not and recalled Kharge’s statement, “What was the connection of Rajasthan and Karnataka to the issue of Kashmir?” “Kharge saab... you have crossed 80 years of age but did not understand the people of Chikkodi, where every kid is ready to lay down his or her life for Kashmir.
For the last 70 years, the Congress kept Article 370 in its lap and kept playing with it. Due to the Congress’ stand on Kashmir, terrorism continued. When Modi became the PM, the abrogation of Article 370 was done once and for all. When the Bill to abrogate Article 370 was tabled in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi opposed it, stating that a river of blood will flow in Kashmir if it is passed. I want to tell Rahul that nobody dared to even throw a stone,” he added.
He also defended the Centre’s decision to ban PFI and alleged that the Congress came to power in Karnataka with the support of SDPI, and soon after there was a bomb in a cafe in Bengaluru. “Unfortunately, the State Government hastily claimed that it was a LPG cylinder blast. But the NIA investigation found that the anti-national SDPI carried out the blast,” Shah said.
Shah alleged Jolle’s political rivals were involved in cutting the hills, grabbing land, and insulting Hindu culture and warriors.