Udupi, DK BJP members stage protest against CM

Udupi and Dakshina Kannada district BJP units staged a protest against Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in Udupi and Mangaluru on Friday.

Addressing the protesters, Karkala MLA Sunil Kumar urged the police to book the chief minister under sedition charges for issuing a statement to give a call for people to revolt against the BJP leaders and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa. The statement has promoted enmity, he claimed.

The MLA said that Kumaraswamy, in order to be in power and to strengthen his hold in politics, is going beyond his limits and is issuing statements that do not speak good of him. The BJP is not making any attempt to destabilise the coalition government in the state. Differences of opinion among those who are within the government will help in the collapse of the government shortly. It is wrong to hold the BJP responsible for the present crisis, he said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Kota Srinivas Poojary accused the chief minister Kumaraswamy of murdering the spirit of democracy by issuing such statement. The chief minister should apologise to people of the state, else he should resign from the post, he demanded.

Udupi district BJP president Mattar Rathnakar Hegde, Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat, Kaup MLA Lalaji R Mendon, BJP leaders Shamala Kunder, Sheela K Shetty, Yashpal Suvarna, and others were present.

In Mangaluru

Addressing the protesters in Mangaluru, Mangaluru City North MLA Dr Bharath Y Shetty urged the chief minister to seek an apology. “Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy looks tensed and has crossed all his limits by asking people to revolt against the BJP,” he said.

Former MLA Yogish Bhat and others spoke.