Kumaraswamy slams Congress after EC stops farmhouse feast

Mandya (Karnata): Officials on election duty on Wednesday allegedly stopped the ‘Hosa Todaku’ programme at the farmhouse of JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy at Bidadi in Ramanagara district, citing violation of model code of conduct in force for the Lok Sabha polls.

The programme is celebrated a day after Ugadi when many communities in the state have a non-vegetarian feast and the EC action elicited a sharp reaction from the former chief minister, who hit out at the Congress for casting its evil eye on the tradition.

“Ugadi is the Hindu New Year. It is the cultural and religious identity of Hindus. Non-veg feast is a tradition, which is organised on the next day of Ugadi since time immemorial. Now Congress in Karnataka has cast its ‘evil eye’ on our tradition, culture and practice and is depicting this feast as an act of terrorism,” the JD(S) second-in-command and son of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, said.

Hitting out Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Kumaraswamy, whose party is an ally of the opposition BJP, accused him and his government of playing politics on the issue, and instigating the people by using police force to quell the public unrest over the removal of the ‘Hanuma dwaja’.

Wearing a saffron shawl on his shoulders, the former chief minister earlier addressed the protestors who had marched from Keragodu village to the Deputy Commissioner’s office here, demanding that the saffron flag be restored.

Leaders and workers of BJP and JD(S), along with activists of the Hindu nationalist outfit Bajrang Dal and other organisations, participated in the march along with the people of Keragodu and surrounding villages.

Mr Kumaraswamy told reporters after addressing the gathering, that the Deputy Commissioner of the area should have handle the situation by speaking to the protestors, instead of setting the police upon them. He claimed that it was the police that instigated the crowd.

Addressing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah he said, “You claim to have administrative experience, having presented 14 budgets (in the state assembly). If you have even a bit of administrative knowledge, set right your government’s mistakes first.” Earlier today, Siddaramaiah had accused the opposition BJP and JD(S) of trying to instigate people, with an eye on the Lok Sabha elections.