‘Why use shrines to settle issues?'

‘Why use shrines to settle issues?'

Raichur/Mysore/Bangalore: Health Minister B. Sriramulu has said that politicians should not drag religious places or god to settle issues. Such actions would only affect the religious sentiments of people, he said.

Speaking to presspersons at Sindhanur on Sunday, he said religious places are meant for worship. Urging Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to drop the oath idea at Dharmasthala, Mr. Sriramulu said the Chief Minister and Mr. Kumaraswamy had a standing in society. Both should respect the religious sentiments of people and avoid throwing challenges at each other.

The Minister said Mr. Kumaraswamy should not make baseless allegations against any political leaders and stop talking lightly about the Chief Minister who was heading a government.

Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Siddaramaiah on Sunday described the Chief Minister's challenge to Mr. Kumaraswamy to repeat the allegations against him before Lord Manjunath as “unconstitutional”.

“This is not the way to reply to the charges. He [the Chief Minister] can set up an inquiry commission,” he told presspersons in Mysore.

He also made a serious charge against the Chief Minister and his family saying they “evaded income tax to the tune of Rs 339.54 crore.”

However, Mr. Siddaramaiah did not elaborate on the charges, saying he would come out with the details on Monday.

Evidence

Senior BJP leader Vaman Acharya on Sunday felt that it was too late to debate whether it was proper for Mr. Yeddyurappa and Mr. Kumaraswamy to testify before Lord Manjunatha.

Replying to questions by presspersons in Bangalore on whether it was proper for the Chief Minister to challenge his predecessor instead of trying out legal options, such as filing a defamation suit, he said: “it is too late to debate the correctness of the decision taken by them (Mr. Yeddyurappa and Mr. Kumaraswamy). All of us should feel happy if this episode, whether right or wrong, helps the State.”

Mr. Vaman Acharya said he had spoken to Mr. Kumaraswamy and told him that if his allegation that Mr. Yeddyurappa had approached him through party legislator Lehar Singh over telephone to buy peace was true, he could have opted to prove his allegations through technical evidence.

“One could have requested the mobile operator to provide the call records if the allegations were true,” he said.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Labour M. Mallikarjun Kharge said that both the leaders were at fault for using religion in an issue involving corruption and they should rather discuss such things before the people.