Senior BJP leader and Shivamogga MLA KS Eshwarappa has approached the police claiming that he received a threat call on April 5. The caller had allegedly objected to his statement where he was heard saying ‘BJP won’t field Muslim candidates as the community does not believe them’. In his complaint to the police, Eshwarappa, also a former Deputy CM, said that he received the call when he was on his way from Bagalkot to Shivamogga.
Eshwarappa met Shivamogga SP Ashwini M on Sunday at her office to submit his written complaint, according to The New Indian Express. He also asked for police protection and sent copies of the complaint to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and Home Minister MB Patil.
The police have begun an investigation, the SP said. “As far as security cover is concerned, the intelligence department will take a call as he travels across the state,” she added.
During an event held on April 1, a video of which was aired on TV channels and also went viral on social media, Eshwarappa had said, “The Congress believed Muslims were vote bank. But because Muslims have stopped voting for them, they've stopped giving seats to Muslims. We won't give tickets to Muslims in Karnataka. Why? Because you don't believe in us. Believe us and we'll see."
Eshwarappa was speaking a party gathering where he addressed the Muslim community and his own Kuruba community in Koppal. He made the statement while he was responding to questions about former JD(S) MLA Iqbal Ansari who joined the BJP recently.
After his remark received criticism, he offered a clarification.
On Twitter, he later said, “Correction:I'm not the hater of any community including Muslims. My statement was about a question asked will "Iqbal ansari" get ticket from BJP?Whenever a new person joins he is not given any post,he has to work hard and earn the post,similarly i had mentioned about Iqbal Ansari (sic).”