Home minister targeting BJP sympathisers: Shobha

The BJP on Tuesday accused Home Minister M B Patil of targeting BJP workers and sympathisers in order to cover up his misdeeds.

Speaking to reporters after meeting journalist and BJP sympathiser S A Hemanth Kumar at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) office, party general secretary Shobha Karandlaje said Patil tried to divide Lingayat/Veerashiva community during the 2018 Assembly polls. But his efforts boomeranged and the Congress lost the elections.

“It appears that Patil wrote the letter (to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on the Lingayat issue) at that time. But we actually don’t know. So the police should begin the probe on the source of the letter from Vijayapura (Patil’s home district). One of his enemies within the Congress may have leaked the letter. A thorough probe will reveal the truth,” she said.

"Kumar is a journalist and BJP worker. Someone had forwarded the letter to him. He has been falsely implicated. The case clearly shows that the Congress-JD(S) government is conspiring to target BJP workers by misusing the police. But the BJP has full faith in the judiciary and we will get justice,” she said.