No headway in Gauri murder, Rajnath slams Karnataka govt

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has slammed the state government for failing to catch the killers of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh and accused it of not maintaining the law and order in Karnataka, especially in Bengaluru.

"Social activist Gauri Lankesh was killed. BJP workers Rudresh Goudar and Paresh Mesta were killed. What is the government doing here? No concrete action was taken to bring the culprits to book," he said at the BJP's Nava Karnataka Nirmana Parivarthana Yatra at Murugeshpalya, off Old Airport Road, on Sunday.  
Bengaluru is the IT capital of the country,  but the Congress government has failed to ensure people's  safety, he added.  "I promise a thorough probe into the murder of Gauri Lankesh if the BJP is voted to power," he said.

The BJP leader also accused  the Siddaramaiah government of "dividing society on caste and communal lines" and took objection to the celebration of Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary.
"It's an attempt to polarise society. Why is the government not celebrating the Kittur Rani Chennamma Jayanti? Why not celebrate the Kempegowda Jayanti?... Why not celebrate the Jayanti of Sir M Visvesvaraya," he asked.

Singh called the Congress  government "most corrupt", saying it made Lokayukta, the  anti-corruption watchdog, "powerless". and set up the Anti Corruption Bureau to shield the corrupt. "The Congress government is involved in the steel flyover scam, the Rs 300-crore laptop scam and the garbage scam. The Congress is the only party that is capable of making money even in the  garbage," he suggested.
According to Singh, two  distressed farmers commit suicide in Karnataka every day on average.  The government has done nothing to rescue them. To make matters worse, it is recklessly borrowing money, disrupting the state's economy. The per capita debt in Karnataka is Rs 38,000. This government has no right to continue in power, he added.

Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar said the countdown for the Siddaramaiah government had begun and that the BJP led by B S Yeddyurappa would form the government after the polls.