The Congress party and the depositors of Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank Niyamita — a cooperative bank at Basavanagudi, filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India on Monday against Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, Basavanagudi MLA Ravi Subramanya and others for heckling the customers of the bank who raised questions about the fate of the bank.
The incident occurred at a meeting of the bank’s customers convened by Mr. Surya as part of his election campaign. The complaint alleged that when the bank’s depositors confronted Mr. Surya over his failure to revive the bank and return all depositors’ money, Mr. Surya and Mr. Subramanya insulted them using derogatory words.
The complaint alleged that the BJP leaders instructed the workers to heckle the customers. Sankara Guha Dwarakanath, General Secretary, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, the complainant in the case, alleged that BJP men also heckled election officials who were video graphing the incident and action should be initiated against these leaders.
Karnataka Congress took a dig at Mr. Surya, saying he had to flee a campaign event using the “emergency exit” when the depositors confronted him. Mr. Surya had landed in trouble when he allegedly opened the emergency exit of a plane.
Mr. Surya alleged that the Congress sent people to disrupt the meeting, and they pushed, shoved, and assaulted women and senior citizens. Mr. Surya claimed that due to his persistent efforts and the reforms initiated by the Union government, “hope was restored for close to 80% of the depositors, with accounts amounting to ₹753 crore being cleared.” He has persistently listed this as one of his achievements as an MP from the city.
