Karnataka - Bangalore   

BJP to Deshpande: contest byelection

R.V. Deshpande and Anand Asnotikar

BANGALORE: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday challenged newly appointed Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president R.V. Deshpande to contest against its nominee and Science and Technology Minister Anand Asnotikar in the Assembly by-elections from Karwar “if he really wants to lead from the front.”

“Anyway, Mr. Deshpande is not a member of the legislature now. The Congress is portraying him as an unquestioned leader of the Uttara Kannada district. If he has confidence, he should now contest this byelection from Karwar in his home district,” BJP spokesperson V. Dhananjay Kumar said.

Taking serious exception to the allegations levelled against Mr. Asnotikar, Mr. Kumar said instead of making such allegations prior to polls, Mr. Deshpande should contest against Mr. Asnotikar.

He termed as “false” the allegations by Congress leader V.S. Ugrappa that a narco analysis test of Raju Shetty who was charged with murdering Dilip Nayak who had killed Anand Asnotikar’s father had shown that the Minister was involved in the murder of his father’s assailant.

“If it is true, why have the Congress leaders not furnished documents in this regard? And why the Congress issued him ticket to contest the Assembly election?,” he asked.

Launching a counter attack against the Congress, the BJP leader said that during the narco analysis test, the name of Mr. Deshpande had also been mentioned by Raju Shetty. But he desisted from disclosing details like the context in which Mr. Deshpande’s name was referred and whether any charges were made against Mr. Deshpande during the test.

Mr. Kumar refuted the allegation that Mr. Anand Asnotikar had submitted a false affidavit before the Election Commission while submitting statements regarding assets and liabilities at the time of Assembly elections.

Referring to the allegations of the Congress that a particular plot of land, which belonged to Mr. Asnotikar had not been shown in the statement of assets and liabilities, Mr. Kumar said this was a disputed property. He said he would caution the Election Commission against budging to the pressure from the Opposition parties to order an inquiry whether the property belonged to Mr. Asnotikar.

“The Election Commission is not an appropriate authority to decide civil suits like the disputes over property,” he said.

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