FIRs against leaders: BJP slams Cong for 'vendetta politics'

After FIRs were filed against its MLAs C N Ashwath Narayan and Harish Poonja over statements they made during the election campaign, the BJP on Thursday claimed that the FIRs against its leaders were politically motivated.

The party alleged that the ruling Congress was practising ‘politics of vendetta’.

Rebutting charges levelled against him in the FIR, Narayan vowed that he would fight it legally and politically.

Narayan told reporters that he had already expressed his ‘deep regrets’ on the floor of the Assembly over his statement made during an election rally last February.

“I never said or gave any call that Siddaramaiah should be killed like Tipu Sultan. My statement was widely misunderstood and misrepresented then. Even after this, I had no hesitation in expressing my regrets,” he said.

Emphasizing that he had high regards for Siddaramaiah, Narayan said he had no ‘ill-will’ against Siddaramaiah.

Rather, he had high regards for Siddaramaiah’s commitment to his beliefs, Narayan said.

“However, we both will always be at loggerheads as our ideologies are poles apart. Therefore, I am ready to fight this case politically as well as legally,” he said.

Narayan said the Congress and its leaders should focus on fulfilling promises made to the electorate, rather than indulging in ‘cheap vendetta politics’.

Launching a scathing attack on the Congress government, BJP MLC and party general secretary N Ravi Kumar questioned the government’s move to file FIRs against its leaders.

“Does your (Congress) government believe only in protecting Naxals, workers of (banned) PFI and Campus Front of India? Both Narayan and Poonja had opposed glorification of dreaded ruler Tipu Sultan and celebration of Tipu Jayanti. Just because they opposed Tipu, the government is filing cases against our leaders,” he said.

The party’s SC morcha president Chalavadi Narayanswamy said if the Congress government thinks that by merely filing FIRs against BJP leaders, it can succeed in stifling BJP workers’ voices, it is wrong.

“Show me which police officer or constable has worn saffron clothes to work. It is a clear case that the government is exerting pressure on the police and BJP leaders by using ‘threats,’ as it wants to silence the honest police force and BJP workers,” he said.