BJP leaders are indulging in provoking people on religious grounds: Dinesh

NT Correspondent

Mysuru: State health minister Dinesh R Gundurao on Monday said that BJP leaders are indulging in provoking people on religious grounds.

Replying to a query on the controversy surrounding removal of a Hanuman flag at Keragodu in Mandya during his visit to Kollegal, the minister said that BJP is eyeing the upcoming parliamentary polls by raking up such issues.

The hidden agenda of the BJP is to create violence and grab votes by raising emotive issues when the elections are round the corner, he said.

The BJP leaders obtained permission and even submitted an affidavit in the local gram panchayat to hoist the national flag but they hoisted the Hanuman Flag instead at Keragodu, he claimed.

The previous BJP government had made attempts to seek votes by raising issues like hijab and the Tipu row during the Assembly elections but people of the state saw through their hidden agenda, he said.

Congress activists are also Hindus and the Karnataka government has even declared 12th century social reformer Baasvana as the cultural icon of the state to honour his contributions to build an equal and discrimination free society, he said.

Gundu Rao also took potshots at  Dal(Secular( president and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy saying he has developed a special affection for Hindutva after his party entered into a pact with the BJP.

He also claimed that for every one rupee tax paid by state tax payers , the Centre was releasing only 15 paise in funds to Karnataka.