'Stone pelting incident shows distress of Sangh Pariwar, BJP'

Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment and DK District-in-Charge Minister B Ramanath Rai has condemned the stone pelting incident during a communal harmony meet in Kalladka organised by Congress party and has said that the act of RSS activists showed their distress

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Addressing mediapersons here on Tuesday, Rai said that the communal harmony meeting was a scheduled meeting and permission had been availed from the authorities concerned.

The meet was intended to establish harmony in the region. But, the RSS and BJP activists who were present at the spot, pelted stones when the speech was in progress. The act of miscreants was provoked by the thought of spoiling the ministers’ image in his hometown and also disrupting the peace in his constituency.

There were no negative remarks made on RSS leader Kalladka Bhat, as claimed by them. The speech has been video documented and anyone may refer the footage.  There has been no violation of code of conduct by Congress party.

The sensible voters will discover the truth, Ramanath Rai said. Answering to a query, the minister said that there has been a slip in the maintenance of law and order. The needy action will be taken to take more precautions in future as far as law and order is concerned. The police department has been requested to look into the matter and punish the guilty.

The miscreants have pelted stones for continuously an hour. This shows their distress about the poll reviews which predicts the success of Congress party in the upcoming parliamentary elections. During the recently held Congress primary, it has been proved that the party members are united. The MP candidate of the Congress will represent the people in true sense, the minister said.

The other party has submitted complaint to the Election Commission. Let the commission take appropriate action, he said and reiterated that the Congress has not done any mistakes in organising the harmony meet.

Congress leader Ibrahim Kodijal said that the Congress will start election campaigning on March 14. As per the directions of KPCC and AICC, campaigning along with padayatra will be conducted in all 8 MLA constituencies. On March 14, the campaigning will be carried out in Mangalore, Mangalore South and Mangalore North constituencies.

A padayatre will be taken out from Thokkottu to Koloor on the day. Campaigning in Bantwal will be held on March 15, which will be followed by Moodbidri (March 16), Belthangadi (March 17), Puttur (March 18) and Sullia (March 19), he said.