Karnataka - Mangalore   

We have intensified action against terrorism: BJP

MANGALORE: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Monday refuted allegations that the recent arrests of suspected terrorists in coastal Karnataka have acted as a distraction from the widespread attacks on churches in the region.

Addressing presspersons here he stressed that the attacks on churches and the spread of terrorist activities in the State were two separate issues. Maintaining that the church attacks were a reaction to religious conversions, he said that the State Government had consistently come down hard on the people indulging in vandalism. “We controlled the violence in just two days,” he said.

Comparing the issue of church attacks with terrorist activity he said that the latter had been going on for a long time. “Since coming to power, we have intensified our action against terrorism in the State,” he said. Expressing concern over the recent arrests he said that coastal Karnataka was turning into a centre for terror-related activities. “We are taking credit for the arrests. They were part of the national-level investigations into the recent spate of bomb blasts. We have only said that the local police ably assisted the visiting teams,” he said.

Criticising the chairman of Central Administrative Reforms Committee, M. Veerappa Moily, he questioned the silence of Mr. Moily since the arrests of the suspected terrorists. Referring to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government for the tardy progress of work on National Highway 17 he said the BJP workers would soon launch an agitation if the road works were not completed soon. Asked about the Shiradi and Sampaje ghat roads which had relapsed to their earlier pathetic condition within months of completing their repairs, he said that remedial action had been initiated.

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