Poll rivalry reduces library to ashes

Besides books, important documents and furniture were reduced to ashes in the fire at the library on Padmanabanagar Main Road, Manjunath, president of Dr Raj Katte, a cultural welfare association, stated in his complaint to the police.

A huge banner, adorned with pictures of Kannada litterateurs and well-known freedom fighters, was also torn from middle, he added. He came to know of the incident in the morning and approached the police.

Claiming that it was arson, Manjunath alleged that Anjanappa and his brothers Umesh T M and Nagaraj were behind it. “Anjanappa had warned me against supporting BJP candidate L Srinivas, but when I did not relent, he and his brothers destroyed the library,” he asserted.
According to Manjunath, the arson was Anjanappa’s “revenge” of his steadfast support to the BJP, a charge the latter denied.

Anjanappa, however, says that Manjunath, himself, destroyed his library and was blaming him. He also contended that he would never damage the library as he had also donated books and money to it. The library, established in 2005, was synonymous with Kannada activism.