A video clip showing Pratap Simha, MP for Mysuru, speaking about BJP national president Amit Shah asking the party’s Yuva Morcha in Karnataka to hold aggressive protests, has gone viral and kicked up a political storm.
In the 37-second video clip that is being shared on WhatsApp and social media platforms, Mr. Simha discloses a discussion he, as the head of the BJP Yuva Morcha, had with Mr. Shah in Bengaluru. Mr. Shah apparently sought from the Yuva Morcha aggressive protests that would lead to “bursting of teargas shells and lathi-charges”. In the video, Mr. Simha says he had assured Mr. Shah of abiding by these instructions.
However, the clip appears to be part of a 27-minute-long video of Mr. Simha going live on his Facebook page on November 30. When asked about the video clip at a press conference in Mysuru on Monday, the MP dismissed it as a “cut-and-paste job”.
Meanwhile, the video has elicited sharp reactions from Congress leaders in the State, especially in light of the trouble in Hunsur over Hanuma Jayanti celebrations and the arrest of Mr. Simha on Sunday.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took to Twitter on Monday and accused Mr. Simha of trying to create communal disturbances in Hunsur during Hanuma Jayanti. “Taking BJP Prez @AmitShah’s advice seriously, Mysuru MP @mepratap is trying to create communal disturbance in Hunsur during Hanuman Jayanthi,” he tweeted.
Mr. Simha, who has been venting ire at Mysuru Superintendent of Police Ravi Channannavar for scuttling the Hanuma Jayanti procession at the behest of the ruling party, accused the police officer of “leaking” to the media a video showing him knocking down a barricade and driving away from a police check-post on the outskirts of Hunsur.
