Siddaramaiah strangling democracy, says Joshi

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar has said that whatever might be the hurdles posed by the Congress-led state government in the State, the BJP would go ahead with its Mangaluru Chalo programme. Speaking to presspersons before the launch of Mangaluru Chalo motorcycle rally at the Nehru Stadium in Hubballi on Tuesday, Mr. Shettar termed the behaviour of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as akin to late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the Emergency. “It seems Mr. Siddaramaiah is emulating Indira Gandhi by preventing a peaceful protest. I condemn it in strong words as it is detrimental to democracy and is a black spot on democracy,” he said. Mr. Shettar said that Mr. Siddaramaiah was afraid of the BJP and that is why he was not willing to allow the party members to proceed to Mangaluru. “But whatever hurdles you create for us, we will definitely reach Mangaluru and participate in the rally come what may,” he said, issuing a warning to the State government that it would be held responsible for any law and order crisis in the coming days. On Mr. Siddaramaiah’s suggestion for a padayatra to Mangaluru, Mr. Shettar said that they need not take suggestions from anyone and it was their right to decide on the mode of protest. “During the BJP regime, Mr. Siddaramaiah launched a 15-day padayatra to Ballari and the BJP government took care of the law and order situation. It is the responsibility of the government to take care of the law and order situation when protests against those in the government are staged,” he said. To a query if the BJP was bent on creating communal tension, Mr. Shettar said that the protest was not against any community but against the deteriorating law and order situation in the coastal region where several Hindu activists had been killed and for seeking the resignation of Minister B. Ramanath Rai.

‘Violating tenets’

Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi accused the State government of strangulating the “neck of democracy” by not giving permission to Mangaluru Chalo. Every Opposition party had the right to stage protests against the State government. However, Mr. Siddaramaiah was violating the tenets of democracy by his anti-democratic acts, he said. Mr. Joshi said that Mr. Siddaramaiah was acting like how the Left parties behaved in West Bengal and Kerala during their years of rule. “It seems Mr. Siddaramaiah is trying to emulate the Left parties by allowing murder of Opposition party members to remain in power,” he said. He said that already Congressmen A.K. Antony had submitted a report that too much appeasement of minorities was the result for the downfall of the Congress at the Centre and if Mr. Siddaramaiah continued with this too much appeasement of minorities, the Congress would meet the same fate in Karnataka.