Mangaluru blast pre-planned, claims D K Shivakumar

Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar, calling the recent cooker blast incident in Mangaluru as pre-planned, has questioned the Director General of Police on what grounds the police declared the accused in the case as a terrorist, without conducting an investigation.

“Was it an attack like Mumbai, Delhi or Pulwama? It was planted to mislead the public and to steal votes. BJP is playing with the emotions of the people of the state,” Shivakumar charged.

Lashing out at Shivakumar’s remark, Kannada and Culture Minister V Sunil Kumar said that the Congress has always been soft on terrorists.

Also Read: Mangaluru blast a wake-up call

In a press release, Sunil Kumar said thatthe Congress and its leaders always view terrorists and their acts through the prism of the vote bank.

“Shivakumar has done just that by stating that the recent cooker blast incident in Mangaluru was fake and planted,” he said.

He said that it’s time Congress must launch a campaign, saying, “They (terrorists) are their brothers” as it would protect their vote bank as well as will give clarity on which side they are on.

The minister said that this is not the first time Shivakumar has made such remarks.

‘Veil of secularism’

“Shivakumar had come out in strong defence of those who had ransacked the police station and set the police vehicles on fire at DJ Halli and KJ Halli in Bengaluru. Shivakumar had called them his brothers. Why is he hiding behind the veil of falsehood called secularism? Shivakumar should come out in the open to declare his support to terrorists,” he said.

Responding to BJP’s reaction to his remarks, Shivakumar said that he will not apologise.

‘Not justifying terror’

He told reporters: “We are not justifying terrorism. We have lost our leader in a terror attack and we are well aware of that pain. My question was how did they get to know it was a terror activity, before conducting the inquiry?”

Shivakumar said that the incident has happened and the culprits need to be punished.

“The way the BJP government publicised the incident is not correct,” the KPCC president said.