BJP misleading people in DySP Ganapathi case – Pramod Madhwaraj
Udupi: “The BJP and the JD(S) have been misleading people by twisting facts of the suicide cases of DySPs Ganapathi and Kallappa Handibag,” said Pramod Madhwaraj, district minister in-charge and state Fisheries, Sports and Youth Affairs minister. He was addressing the media persons at a press meet held at the Press Club here, on Monday, July 25.
Claiming that the opposition was playing politics over the suicides, Madhwaraj said, “The suicides of DySP Ganapathi and Kallappa Handibag were unfortunate. Life is precious; suicide is not a remedy. The opposition parties are using these suicides for political gain. They only want publicity. Their leaders are not interested in discussing serious problems during assembly sessions. The government has handed over the case for a judicial inquiry. Minister George resigned on moral grounds and to prevent embarrassment to the party.”
The minister also revealed statistics about a number of cases being faced by some BJP and JD(S) leaders in the state. “Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, Ananth Kumar, Sadananda Gowda, Ramesh Jigajinagi, Jagadish Shettar, Eshwarappa and others have 30 different cases against them. In the Union Cabinet also, many union ministers including Smriti Irani, Uma Bharti, Bandaru Dattatreya, Giriraj Singh and others were facing criminal charges. But, BJP leaders are not demanding the resignation of these union ministers who are facing criminal charges,” he said.
He further said that JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, his wife Anitha Kumaraswamy and elder brother H D Revanna are also facing many cases. “They should introspect before speaking about others. It is not right for those living in glass houses to throw stones,” he added.
“Police suicides not reported on in Congress government time. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 122 policemen have committed suicide in Karnataka between 2003 and 2013. During Kumarswamy’s tenure, 24 policemen committed suicide, while when B S Yeddyurappa and Sadananda Gowda were chief ministers 13 policemen committed suicide. During Jagadish Shettar’s tenure, 17 policemen committed suicide.”
“The Congress government has handed over eight cases to the CBI since 2013. But the previous BJP government did not refer a single case to the CBI in five years.” Minister Pramod sought to know why BJP leaders were silent on DySP Kallappa Handibag’s suicide while they were staging protests over Ganapathi’s suicide. “The police have arrested 2 Bajrang Dal activists in the Handibag case. The involvement of others will also come out soon,” he added.
KPCC observer Krishamraju, MLC Prathapchandra Shetty, ZP member Janardhan Tonse, KPCC member M A Gafoor were also present.