36 Karnataka Congress leaders booked for protests outside CM Bommai’s residence
Congress leaders on Thursday were detained by the police during their rally towards the CM’s residence. They have later staged a sit-in at Vidhana Soudha demanding the minister’s resignation.
FollowDays after Karnataka Congress leaders took out a rally towards Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s residence, an FIR was registered against 36 Karnataka Congress leaders including former CM Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar, Indian National Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala for unlawful Assembly.
The Congress leaders took out a rally demanding to expel minister KS Eshwarappa over contractor Santosh Patil’s death. Congress leaders on Thursday were detained by the police during their rally towards the CM’s residence. They have later staged a sit-in at Vidhana Soudha demanding the minister’s resignation.
The police have booked a case under sections 143 (unlawful assembly) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Karnataka Police Act, 1963 section 103 (penalty for contravention of regulation of traffic and for preservation of order in public places).
Reacting to the FIR, DK Shivakumar said, “On Friday, BJP workers also staged a protest in front of the CM’s residence demanding Eshwarappa must not resign and why the police have not registered a case against them. The government and police have been partial in taking action and in incidents of moral policing, the Chief Minister himself has taken a stand by asking ‘what’s wrong’.
Eshwarappa, who was the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister, resigned after coming under the scanner after he was charged with abetment to suicide after Santosh K Patil, a Belagavi based civil contractor. He and his aides- Basavaraj and Ramesh have been accused of abetting the suicide of contractor Santosh Patil.
Santosh Patil, who was also the national secretary of an organization named 'Hindu Vahini', had accused Eshwarappa of demanding 40 per cent commission in a public work executed by him. He had also reportedly written a letter to PM Modi and Union Minister Giriraj Singh in this regard. However, the Karnataka Minister dismissed Patil's allegation and even filed a defamation case against him. On the morning of April 12, he was found dead in a hotel at Udupi leading to protests from Congress which demanded the immediate arrest of Eshwarappa. As per initial reports, the police suspected Patil to have committed suicide.
