Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly R Ashoka (L) and BJP State president BY Vijayendra.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Bengaluru: A delegation of BJP leaders from Karnataka, led by State president BY Vijayendra, is set to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday night in Delhi to demand a high-level probe into the incidents of violence during Ganesha idol immersion processions in different parts of the State.
Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly R. Ashoka and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy will be part of the delegation.
The development comes after Maddur town in Mandya district witnessed a stone-pelting incident during a Ganesha immersion procession on Sunday evening. The police on Monday took 21 people into custody in connection with the incident.
Earlier on Monday, Ashoka demanded that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah apologise to the people of Karnataka over the communal violence in Maddur.
The BJP leader alleged that the Congress government’s "appeasement politics" had emboldened miscreants and created a “peculiar situation” where Hindus were being treated as “second-class citizens”.
"Siddaramaiah should tender an apology for insulting Goddess Chamundeshwari, Dharmasthala and now for the Maddur incident,” he demanded.
Ashoka told reporters in Bengaluru that stone pelting in Maddur was not an isolated incident but part of a larger plan.
He accused the Congress of "indirectly backing" such acts through its policies and statements.
"This is a heinous act. People are in a state of confusion whether this is Karnataka or Pakistan. This has been going on for the past two years. After Dharmasthala and Chamundeshwari temple, it is now the turn of Maddur town," Ashoka alleged.
He said the police should not be blamed for this incident, but the State government, which "encourages" such elements.
Vijayendra took to X to launch an attack on the State government, alleging that law and order had collapsed under the Congress dispensation.
He claimed that Hindu festivals and processions were no longer safe in the State.
“During the Ganesha immersion processions, fanatical miscreants are forming gangs and pelting stones — such incidents have been reported from many parts of the State... Yesterday in Maddur, miscreants created a tense atmosphere by continuously hurling stones. In this stone-pelting, women and police personnel were seriously injured, which is extremely alarming, and the BJP strongly condemns this,” Vijayendra said.
With PTI inputs.