Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Mar 21: Ex-minister Vasant V Salian has alleged that the inertia of the policemen and the handiwork of the Sangh Parivar outfits including Bajrang Dal were responsible for the communal disturbances which shook Kaup and nearby places recently.

Addressing a press conference at Rajiv Bhavan, Kaup on Friday March 20, Salian accused the policemen of purposefully supporting the mischief mongers. The incidents in Kaup could have been averted, had the police been deployed near Polipu mosque in large numbers, he felt.

"Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee has appointed a fact-finding committee of nine members under the leadership of Prof Chandrashekhar. The committee will examine the incidents, assess losses suffered, reasons therefore etc and submit a report to the Governor, Chief Minister and the state president of the Congress party," he explained. Salian also blamed the media for coming out with distorted and one-sided reports of these incidents.

MLA and president of Dakshina Kannada district unit of the Congress party Ramanath Rai, who spoke later, blamed vested interests for the trouble. He criticized the Sangh Parivar outfits of taking law into their hands even on minor pretexts and trying to disturb communal harmony. He called upon the people to come together and strive for conserving communal harmony.

MLA U T Khader held the failure of the police department in managing the situation, responsible for the unfortunate developments. He accused the home minister Dr V S Acharya having a hand in the developments and demanded his resignation, owning moral responsibility. While expressing his regret for the incident in which the superintendent of police was hit with a stone, he called for an impartial inquiry into incidences of stone pelting on the mosque and also on the general public preferably through a judicial commission.

Karkala MLA Gopal Bhandary said that the events were the handiwork of hooligans from outside Kaup, who wanted to create vote banks just before the Lok Sabha election. He said, the Election Commission will be apprised of the matter, and appointment of impartial observers for the twin-districts will be sought from it. MLA Abhaychandra Jain asked the BJP and Sangh Parivar to stop vote-bank politics forthwith.

Party leaders Gangadhar Suvarna, Ignatius D'Souza, M P Moidinabba, Abdul Aziz and others were present at the press conference.