Anant Kumar Hegde, the member of Parliament from Uttara Kannada district.
Honnavara/Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday continued its attacks on state chief minister Siddaramaiah led Congress government, asking him to resign gracefully or face a rout in the coming assembly elections.
Speaking at the BJP’s Karnataka Suraksha Yatre in Bhatkal, about 500 kms from Bengaluru, Anant Kumar Hegde, the member of Parliament from Uttara Kannada district, tore into the Congress, accusing the latter of trying to divide society for electoral gains.
Hedge, the controversial Union skill development and entrepreneurship minister, has targeted the Congress and Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and has vowed to carry on the yatra till the latter steps down from his post.
Heading into elections, the BJP is trying to consolidate the fragmented Hindu vote by terming Siddaramaiah as anti-Hindu. The party used the recent killings in the region as a poll strategy. Posters of those killed in alleged communally motivated incidents have been plastered ahead of the BJP’s rally in Ankola, Kumta, Honnavara and Bhatkal, all in the communally sensitive costal belt, in the past two days.
Shobha Karandlaje, the Udupi-Chikmagaluru Lok Sabha member of Parliament, has acquired a gun after she received threatening calls, further adding to the BJP’s narrative of failing law and order in the state, according to local media reports. Karandlaje couldn’t be reached for comment.
Two rallies, which were flagged off simultaneously from Ankola and Kodagu, will converge in Mangaluru on Tuesday and will be addressed by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
The BJP, which is trying different caste combinations across other parts of the state, is fighting on the religious identity plank in coastal Karnataka, home to some of the most communally sensitive parts of the state.
