Coalition govt hand-in-glove with cattle mafia: Udupi MP Shobha Karandlaje

Bengaluru: Charging that the state government was hand in glove with the cattle smuggling mafia, BJP General Secretary and Udupi MP Shobha Karandlaje urged the government to provide protection to farmers and their cattle.

Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, Ms Shobha said that cattle were being smuggled to Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu from the state. Though there is a Union government amendment to the law that a separate vehicle should be used for  transporting animals,  cattle are being transported in passenger cars, autorickshaws and are being dumped in gunny sacks, she claimed. However, when activists catch cattle smugglers and hand them over to the police, cases are lodged against them, she alleged.

The cattle mafia are also stealing cattle from the houses of farmers which is rampant in Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and other districts, where people live in isolated houses. The   mafia threaten people with weapons and take away their cattle. However, the government does not have any mechanism  either to receive complaints or take action against them, she said.

Besides, in the coastal region and Malnad, a lot of cows and bulls used to be left at temples. Temples even had the facility to provide drinking water to these cattle. However, these cattle have mysteriously disappeared from all  towns, she said.

Taking a dig at the way the government and police are favouring the cattle theft mafia, Ms Shobha said the police were arresting those trying to protect cattle. Besides, officials are helping the accused in theft cases by filing false affidavits in courts.

Ms Shobha urged the government to set up SPCA teams in every district to control the cattle theft menace. The team should have the DC, police and elected representatives as its members and government should have toll free lines to enable people call up officials, she said.

Coming down on Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and other Congress leaders, who were asking people why they voted for Prime Minister Modi and were now asking the coalition government for help, Ms Karandlaje said the state government should get on with the administration, instead of threatening voters. The administration during the last one year was so bad that even veterans of the JD(S) and Congress like Mr Deve Gowda and Mr Mallikarjun Kharge lost the LS elections, she added.