BJP conspiring to end Opposition: Congress

Vokkaliga seers and Congress leaders came together on Wednesday to criticise the Centre over the arrest of Congress leader D K Shivakumar, who is currently in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Alleging that the BJP was pursuing the ‘politics of cowardice’, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao lashed out at the Centre for “conspiring” to end opposition parties in the country.

Addressing the rally organised by Vokkaliga groups to express solidarity with Shivakumar, he said that protest was in retaliation to the vendetta politics of the BJP.

“Karnataka will not tolerate the politics pursued by the Centre,” he said, adding that politicians who joined the BJP were immediately sanctified while opposition leaders were hounded by abusing the central government agencies.

Former minister Krishna Byre Gowda said that BJP leaders were afraid of the Opposition. “Today, the CBI, I-T and ED are acting like wild dogs of the central government. Like in Pakistan, where the ISI is used to silence critics of its army, the BJP is using central agencies like dogs to hound political opponents,” he charged.

Nanjavadhutha seer, who addressed the protestors at Freedom Park, said the Vokkaliga community was behind its leader Shivakumar.

“The manner in which Shivakumar was treated is not right. V G Siddhartha’s fate should not befall him,” he said.

Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) was conspicuous in his absence at the Vokkaliga protest rally in Bengaluru.

Speaking to reporters at his Channapatna constituency, Kumaraswamy said, “The programme in Channapatna was fixed in advance. Many leaders of our party have participated in the protest. I would have been part of it if I was invited ahead of time,” he said.

On rumours that Kumaraswamy will be arrested soon, he said “They can’t fix me in any case.”