RSS worker's murder: BSY to lead party MPs to Rajnath

To urge Centre to order NIA probe into Sharath's killing

BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday said that he will be leading a delegation of party MPs from the state to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on July 16 or 17, demanding a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the murder of RSS worker Sharat Madiwala in Bantwal of Dakshina Kannada district.

Addressing a protest meet organised by the BJP Mahila Morcha at Town Hall here, Yeddyurappa said if the need arises, the issue will also be brought to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Blaming Kerala MP K C Venugopal, who was recently appointed as AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, for the unrest in the coast, Yeddyurappa sought to remind him that ‘it is Karnataka and not Kerala’.

Giving a clarion call to the rank and file of the party to maintain calm, the former chief minister warned them against the ‘nefarious intentions’ of the rival party to provoke the BJP workers.

Unfazed by the repeated denial of permission for holding a party convention in the coastal district in the recent past, Yeddyurappa asked the workers to be ready to host a mega convention of one lakh workers once the prohibitory orders are lifted. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will attend the meeting, he added.

Earlier, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje said that any bid to arrest senior RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat and herself would put the Congress party in trouble. It would be the last nail in the coffin of the grand old party, she added.

‘Ban KFD, PFI’

Vociferously demanding a ban on Popular Front of India (PFI) and Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD), Shobha said it was only after the probe into the RSS worker Rudresh’s murder in Bengaluru, was handed over to the NIA, the handiwork of KFD activists in the case came to light.

Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said that if Sharath Madiwala’s murder case was handed over to the NIA, the Congress party workers will be arrested for their role in the crime.

Initially, the BJP Mahila Morcha had planned to stage a protest at Nehru Maidan, condemning the killings of innocent Hindus. However, following the denial of  prerequisite permission from the police on Wednesday evening, it was decided to conduct a protest meeting inside the Town Hall.