Don’t Allow BJP Leaders into Your Homes, Deshpande Urges Women
Bangalore, May 4 (DHNS) : The Congress has demanded that the CBI inquire into the case filed against former minister Halappa and and that Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa resign.
The party alleged that the Chief Minister has failed to protect rights of a woman in his home district. It has also appealed the Governor to dismiss the Yeddyurappa government.
Leaders of the party, on Monday, staged a protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue. Leader of Opposition S Siddaramaiah said Yeddyurappa had no moral right to continue in the office.
“It is highly deplorable that the CM and BJP state president Eshwarappa did not take action against the accused despite being aware of the incident months before it was reported in media. If the Chief Minister has any self respect he should resign immediately and go for the elections,” Siddaramaiah said.
Atrocities on the rise
KPCC president R V Deshpande alleged atrocities on women had increased since Yeddyurappa government came to power. He called upon women in the State not to allow any BJP leader enter their homes. Motamma said the Halappa case would prove to be the death knell of the BJP rule. Women of the State should teach the party a lesson in the next elections.
The leaders met Governor H R Bhardwaj and appealed him to take steps to refer the case to the CBI. The party argued that as the Chief Minister had praised Halappa as a “pious” person, chances of a fair inquiry by the CID, which is under the State Government’s control, were poor.
“In the interest of justice, fair play and transparent inquiry it is necessary to hand over the case to the CBI”, the party said. In its petition to the Governor, the Congress said the Yeddyurappa government had “failed in protecting the life, liberty, privacy, modesty, honour and dignity of citizens”. The government should be dismissed on the grounds that the council of ministers had failed in their duties mandated by the Constitution of India.
‘Halappa will get same treatment as Nithyananda’
Home Minister V S Acharya on Monday said the police will give the same treatment to former minister H Halappa as was done with self-styled goodman Swami Nityananda, who has been remanded to judicial custody after slapping criminal cases, including rape.
“We will not discriminate,” Acharya told reporters when asked whether Halappa will get the same treatment as Swami Nityananda is getting. Home Minister further said the Government will not interfere in the investigation and the officers will take appropriate steps as per the law. “We will neither pre-empt or sidetrack anything on the issue,” he added. Asked whether he had prior knowledge of the incident, he said he had heard rumours about it.
State BJP President K S Eshwarappa had said he knew about the incident and that the victim’s husband had met him one and a half month ago. Eshwarappa said he saw the case as a conspiracy to finish off Halappa’s political career.
“No husband will videograph his wife being raped. In fact, a true and a faithful husband will kill the rapist. It is a conspiracy and prima facie, it seems, it was all done to blackmail Halappa,” he stated.
Eshwarappa asked why the opposition Congress did not utter a word when the then Andhra Pradesh Governor allegedly caught in a compromising position with some women. “Why was not N D Tiwari arrested? Why he was not sent to jail? They (opposition leaders) should understand that such a thing may happen to them also,” he stated.