No question of forgiving BJP MLC Ravi for using derogatory word: Minister

PTI Belagavi, (Karnataka) Karnataka Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar on Monday asserted that she will continue her legal fight seeking justice in connection with BJP MLC C T Ravi allegedly using a derogatory word against her and said that she will request Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to ensure swift action. There is no question of forgiving Ravi at any cost, she said, and added that she will also seek justice from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and would write a letter to President Droupadi Murmu. "If I get an opportunity, I will meet the prime minister and bring to his notice the injustice that has happened to me," she said. Ravi allegedly used a derogatory word against Hebbalkar in the Legislative Council on December 19 during an altercation between them, when the House was adjourned for a while. He was arrested on the same day evening and taken into the police van from the premises of Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi, where the legislature session was held, based on Hebbalkar's complaint. "For two days, I had gone into silence because I was shocked. I had never heard such a thing from anybody. I have come forward in politics fighting injustice. There was no red carpet for me in my career. I have struggled for 26 years and come to this level," Hebbalkar told reporters here. Hitting out at BJP, she said, she feels pity about -- state BJP president B Y Vijayendra, Leader of Opposition R Ashoka and saffron party leaders from her Panchamasali Lingayat community Basangouda Patil Yatna and Arvind Bellad -- for supporting a person who made a woman feel "disgusted". "For the sake of politics and their party, they are doing it. The BJP leaders who chant Rama, Rama.. should be ashamed. He (Ravi) said it (derogatory word) I was the one who heard it being used against me. But, Ravi is going across the state getting garlanded and is getting glorified," she said. If he has any conscience, he should tell women in his family that he is feeling guilty, she demanded. Stating that she was shocked for a couple of days, the minister said she wont stop her fight against "injustice". "I will once again submit an appeal to the Chairman of the Council. He has said before the media that he has not got any video or audio recordings (about usage of derogatory word), as the recording was mute in the House, but has seen certain recordings in the media. I, too, have evidence, I will also release it," she said.