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Gowda: Karnataka situation worse than Gujarat’s

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Blaming the communal violence in the coastal districts of Karnataka on the recent Hindu Samajotsav rally at Mangalore, the former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, on Friday alleged that the communal situation in Karnataka was worse than in Gujarat.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Gowda criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party and its affiliates for organising the rally, aimed at creating a “Hindu vote bank.”

Mr. Gowda referred to the communal incidents that rocked coastal Karnataka after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad organised the rally on March 15.

He said the BJP, which had claimed it would seek votes for the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka on the strength of the B.S. Yeddyurappa-led government’s achievements in the last nine months, changed tack and polarising voters on communal lines.

He lamented the presence of Home Minister V.S. Acharya at the rally.

‘Threat to harmony’

“The rallies are a threat to communal harmony and the Election Commission should take serious note of it,” Mr. Gowda said. He welcomed the Commission’s decision to issue notice to Varun Gandhi, BJP candidate for Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh. The statements attributed to Mr. Gandhi posed a grave danger to the country, the former Prime Minister said.

Mr. Gowda said the proposal to come out with a national policy document for the Third Front was shelved as the constituent parties decided to issue separate manifestos.

However, he said the front would come out with a Common Minimum Programme soon after the Lok Sabha results were declared.

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