Amit Shah creating communal unrest in K'taka ahead of polls: Siddaramaiah

Belagavi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has accused BJP national president Amit Shah of conspiring to create communal unrest in the state ahead of the Assembly elections slated for April-May next year.

The CM, who was addressing a Congress convention at Sulebhavi, 20 kms from Belagavi city, alleged that Mr Shah had during his recent visit to the state advised his party leaders to create communal violence to help the BJP come to power in Karnataka as it was currently not in a position to win more than 60 to 70 seats in the coming elections.

“During his recent visit to Karnataka Amit Shah pulled up Mysuru MP Pratap Simha for not being more active, asking him how many times he had gone to jail, how many agitations he had taken part in and how many incidents of communal violence he had instigated. He virtually threatened Pratap Simha,'' he charged.

Calling the recent Mangaluru Chalo rally of the Bharatiya Janata Party a campaign to polarise the Hindus and Muslims, he advised it against holding such programmes to destroy the cordial relations between the two communities, and instead hold a Delhi Chalo rally to pressure Prime Minister Narendra Modi to waive off farmers’ loans in Karnataka.

The Chief Minister, who took strong objection to state BJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa threatening to file a chargesheet against him, called the Lingayat strongman “shameless” for making such statements despite being jailed himself when he was Chief Minister.

“Even Amit Shah was jailed for murder when he was Home Minister of Gujarat. But these leaders with criminal backgrounds issue statements against me. I can say with pride that my government has never indulged in a single scam and has met 155 of the 165 assurances it made in the election manifesto,” he added. Claiming that he felt the pulse of the people of Karnataka, Mr Siddaramaiah asserted that the Congress party would retain power in the state.