Mangaluru auto blast: BJP, Congress lock horns over DK Shivakumar's statement

BENGALURU: Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar’s statement that the BJP used the Mangaluru autorickshaw blast incident to divert the public attention from the alleged voter data fraud has triggered a bitter war of word between the two parties.
Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai dared senior Congress functionaries, including AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to clarify whether party's leaders support terrorists, who create unrest in the country, or it backs patriots, who want to protect the country.
“When it is clear from the ongoing investigation that the person, who was carrying explosives in a pressure cooker, had intentions to trigger a blast, the KPCC president has made such an astonishing statement. It is not proper for someone who is heading a political party,” said Bommai.
“There is nothing new for the Congress as appeasement politics has been its policy. It has an habit of trivialising terrorist acts and supporting terrorists.”
He said Shivakumar might have made this statement since the Congerss has resorted to its old strategy of wooing the minority votes by appeasing them.
BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel said Shivakuar’s statement indicates that the Congress will back terrorists if it comes to power.
“The Congress had supported the miscreants in the GJ Halli-KG Halli violence. The Congress presidents sheds tears whenever terrorists are killed in encounters. Earlier also, the Congress had supported Sharique and now Shivakumar has only echoed the sentiments,” said Kateel.
Former chief minister BS Yediyurappa sought Shivakumar’s apology for his statement.
Reacting to the BJP’s attack, Shivakumar sought to clarify that he had not justified the incident, but he was only stating that the BJP had utilised the incident to cover up the failures of its government.
“I have not supported any terrorist, nor I asked the government to stop the investigation on the pressure cooker bomb incident. I just said that the BJP had used the incident to hush up the voter data theft scam. Also, I had said that the BJP leaders are trying to divert the public attention from dissidence brewing in the party,” Shivakumar said.
Congress MLA Priyank Kharge justified Shivakumar’s statement saying the KPCC president was only highlighting the failure of government and intelligence as the accused was trained in the home minister’s district.