From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Dec 20: Opposition Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited Angol in Belagavi district, where the statue of Sangolli Rayanna was vandalised last Friday leading to violent incidents in the border district and defacement of Chatrapathi Shivaji statue in Bengaluru, and paid floral tributes to the valiant freedom fighter revered by all Kannadigas on Monday.

The Congress leader said no one should take the law into their hands and that the State Government had the responsibility to trace and punish such wrong doers.

“The desecration of the Sangolli Rayanna statue in Angol is highly condemnable. Local youth have complained that Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti members have desecrated it. It seems MES members have no regard for the law. The government should take action against such lumpen elements,’’ he said. 

“There is a demand from the people that MES should be banned. We will raise this and other issues in the Assembly and see what the BJP government does,’’ he said.

He alleged that the state government had failed to maintain law and order in the state properly.

“The law and order disturbances in Belagavi and other places seem to be a case of complete police failure. Police could have prevented such things, but they did not. The state intelligence department is dead. The government has no control over administration and there is a severe law and order issue,’’ he said.

Shivaraj Holimath, president of Sangolli Rayanna Sene, Ambaraya Karadiguddi, and other Karnataka Rakshana Vedike leaders like Deepak Amblihal, Baburao, and others were present.

CM promises decisive action to check vandalism

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai declared that the State government would take decisive steps to stop vandalism.

“Stringent action would be initiated against those who take law into their hands,’’ the Chief Minister said while speaking to media persons in Belagavi ahead of the Legislature session. "The main perpetrators of the recent vandalism in Karnataka have already been arrested. We will not allow any hooliganism to continue," Bommai said.

State Home Secretary and Director General of Police have taken up the issue with their Maharashtra counterparts to protect the life and property of Kannadigas in Maharashtra, and also providing security for Karnataka government vehicles, Bommai said.