Vokkaliga leaders in the Bharatiya Janata Party, concerned over the “caste colour” the arrest of D.K. Shivakumar has taken and the protests by their community against “misuse of central agencies”, appealed for calm on Tuesday.
All three Ministers from the community denied that Mr. Shivakumar and the community were targeted by the BJP.
Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan appealed to the Vokkaliga leaders and supporters of Mr. Shivakumar to protest peacefully, without taking law into their hands. “Let them air their grievances. We appeal to them not to give room for any untoward incidents during the protests,” he tweeted.
Revenue Minister R. Ashok went on the offensive and said it was shameful that the Congress was giving the arrest of Mr. Shivakumar a “caste colour”. “The ED arrested Mr. Shivakumar for suspected illegal transactions. Neither the BJP nor the Union government have a role in his arrest. Investigative agencies act within the framework of the Constitution,” he tweeted.
‘Think realistically’
Another Minister from the community C.T. Ravi called upon the Vokkaliga leaders “to think realistically and not emotionally”. He said there was no need for the Vokkaliga community to presume that the ED had targeted the community by carrying out a probe against Mr. Shivakumar.
A series of events — pulling down H.D. Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister, death of V.G. Siddhartha who alleged harassment by the Income Tax officials and the arrest of Mr. Shivakumar — seem to have led to discontentment in the community against the BJP.
