BJP should apologise to people of the State: Kimmane Ratnakar

‘The truth has come out now regarding Tirthahalli episode’

Relieved by the Criminal Investigation Department’s interim report which has concluded that the mysterious death of the 14-year-old girl in his constituency of Tirthahalli was due to suicide and that there was no sexual assault, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar on Tuesday demanded that the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should apologise to the people of the State for allegedly trying to twist the episode for political gains.

Launching a counter-attack at the BJP, which had gone all out against him with respect to the girl’s death, the minister alleged that the BJP had misused the innocence of the girl’s parents in its effort to give a communal tinge to the episode. The party had involved itself right from the level of filing police complaint to defame him as well as the government, he said.

But the truth has come out now with the CID clearly indicating that the death was due to suicide, the minister told

The Hindu here. He appealed to the people of the state to teach a lesson to the BJP for trying to “mislead” them.

He expressed concern that it would have been possible to save the life of the innocent girl if the BJP had focused on saving her life rather than trying to politicise the episode.

He also announced that he would hold a protest in Tirthahalli against the attempts by the BJP to “mislead” people. “I will take up a padayatra in Tirthahalli as part of the protest and would pose questions to the BJP on what measures it has taken against its leaders like H. Halappa, M. P. Renukacharya and S. A. Ramdas who are involved in scandals and those who allegedly watched porn clips in the Assembly,” he said.

Meanwhile BJP senior leader Jagadish Shettar, who is also leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, said he would react to the CID report only after studying the contents.