BENGALURU: The issue of former minister and BJP MLA Munirathna allegedly abusing Vokkaligas, Dalits, and women is likely to have its impact on the forthcoming bypoll to Channapatna Assembly constituency.
Evidently, the ruling Congress is trying to turn the tables against the opposition JDS and BJP. The Vokkaliga leaders in the Congress, including Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, have alleged that state JDS chief and Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka, and BJP MLC CT Ravi are backing Munirathna.
The Vokkaliga leaders in the Congress, including the state party chief and DyCM DK Shivakumar, have also urged that the religious heads of the communities should protest against Munirathna. Former Bengaluru Rural MP DK Suresh has also appealed to Dalit religious heads to protest.
Also, a section of Vokkaligas and Dalits have also staged protests across Karnataka condemning Munirathna.
Meanwhile, Adichunchanagiri seer Sri Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji had said that Munirathna’s statement is “unforgivable.”
The Congress wants to keep up the momentum till the Channapatna bypolls, expecting that it would help in polarization of the Vokkaligas and the Dalits in its favour, a Congress leader said, adding that the Muniratna issue will have a cascading effect.
The chances of DK Suresh contesting the bypolls cannot be ruled out. But the BJP sympathisers said that the issue will not have any impact as Munirathna is not the face of the party, as his influence is restricted to his Rajarajeshwari Nagar Assembly constituency in Bengaluru city. “The Congress is blowing up the issue out of proportion to divert people’s attention from the Nagamangala violence,” a BJP leader said.