|HT|
Congress stalwart Siddaramaiah and Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai hit out at each other in the wake of back-to-back murders in the state after the opposition leader demanded the chief minister's resignation. There have been two killings in the communally sensitive Dakshina Kannada district this week, which prompted Siddaramaiah to say that the law and order situation is deteriorating in the state. The former CM also slammed Bommai for his statement that murders happened during Siddaramaiah's tenure too.
“The chief minister is making a statement out of frustration. If you can't run the government, let it go. If you don't believe in democracy if you can't listen to the words of the Opposition, then resign and go away. If the SDPI, and PFI organisations have violated the law, if there is evidence for it, then let them be banned.” said Siddaramaiah.
The state's home minister Araga Jnanendra had earlier indicated the involvement of the two organisations - Popular Front of India (PFI), and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) - in the murder case of Praveen Nettaru, who was a BJP youth wing leader. Nettaru was hacked to death by three persons who followed him on a bike in Bellare on Tuesday evening after he shut his chicken shop for the day. Two people have been arrested and several questioned in the case, which was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday.
Siddaramaiah also questioned the state government's morals and said, “This government has no morals. How can those who have no morals bear the moral responsibility of these cases?”
In the second case, a 23-year-old youth, Fazil, was hacked to death by an unidentified group on the outskirts of Mangaluru on Thursday, making it the second murder in two days. Following the incident, tensions prevailed in the district and authorities imposed section 144 at Surathkal, Mulki, Bajpe and Panambur.
"At around 8 pm (on July 28), there was an incident where a 23-year-old boy was brutally attacked by 4-5 people near Krishnapura Katipalla road, Surathkal. The boy was immediately shifted to a hospital and was declared dead," Mangaluru Police Commissioner, N Shashi Kumar said. Further investigations are underway in both cases. Several BJP workers gave in mass resignations to protest the youth wing leader's murder, while ABVP workers protested outside the residence of home minister Araga Jnanendra in Bengaluru demanding a ban on organizations like SDPI.
“I understand their sentiments, and the government is also thinking in that regard. I will invite ABVP members and talk to them,” Jnanendra said.
(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)