Elections are less than six months away in Karnataka and it is not only the BJP and Congress that are locking horns with each other in the poll-bound state.
The Mangaluru City North unit of the BJP led by its president Y Bharath Shetty has sued former CM and Janata Dal (Secular) state chief HD Kumaraswamy for Rs 1 crore for allegedly defaming the party.
The case was filed in connection with Kumaraswamy’s statement on the recent murder of Deepak Rao, a Suratkal-based BJP member.
Kumaraswamy had said on Tuesday, “I have information that BJP leaders are behind the killing of Deepak Rao. Why is the Congress government silent on this?”
"Are BJP and Congress working together? I do not know what the state government is doing and whom it is trying to protect?” the JD(S) state chief had added.
Speaking on the defamation suit filed by the party, Bharath Shetty said, “Kumaraswamy, who does not know anything about the situation here, gives a statement sitting in Mysuru. His statements not only confuse people but also mislead the investigation.”
“We have taken it seriously and filed a case in the Mangaluru court. Vikas Puttur and Ashok (party office bearers) are witnesses in the case. All related documents have been submitted to the court,” he added.
Kumaraswamy made this statement after Congress MLA Mohiuddin Bava said that one of the accused in the case, Pinky Navaz, was a member of the BJP’s minority wing.
The Janata Dal (Secular), led by its state chief and former CM HD Kumaraswamy, according to most political observers is the third horse in the race for power. But with its strong base in the old Mysuru/Cauvery delta region, the party might be a kingmaker for either of the national parties if they are short of the magic number of 113 seats.
A member of the BJP’s IT cell in Dakshin Kannada, Deepak Rao, was waylaid and murdered allegedly by four Muslim men on January 3. In suspected retaliation for his murder, a Muslim man named Basheer was attacked within hours of Deepak’s murder. Basheer succumbed to his injuries after battling for his life for four days in a Mangaluru hospital.
The coastal Karnataka region is infamous for repeated incidents of communal attacks which regularly claim lives of activists on both sides.