Bengaluru, Aug 23: Stating that he was neither for nor against Dharmasthala, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar called upon BJP not to politicise the issue.
Speaking to reporters at his Sadashivanagar residence, he said, “BJP was sitting on the fence on this issue. They have started talking after I raised the angle of conspiracy.” He was replying to a reporter who drew his attention to the fact that he raised the conspiracy angle first.
“The first family of Dharmasthala spoke to the CM and appreciated formation of SIT. The investigation is going on. The CM and the Home Minister have clarified in the Legislative Assembly that the government would take action against the culprits irrespective of their position,” he added.
Asked about Sujatha Bhat’s statement that Ananya Bhat wasn’t her daughter, he said the Home minister would handle that.
Asked about his meeting with AICC General Secretary Surjewala, he said, “Don’t we need to prepare for the local body elections? We are holding meetings to allocate responsibilities. We can’t ignore the Courts order on elections.”
Asked about his Bihar visit, he said, “Congress Janadhikar March is going on in Bihar and we would like our MLAs to witness that. The CM has also been invited and he will visit on another day.”
Congress MLAs and leaders, led by KPCC President and DCM D.K. Shivakumar, left for Bihar from Bengaluru on a special flight on Saturday to participate in the “Vote Adhikar Yatra” being led by Lok Sabha Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi. MLAs Srinivas Mane, Babasaheb Patil, Raju Seth, Rizwan Arshad, B.M Nagaraj, Nayana Motamma, Ashok Pattan, Anand Kadoor, Venugopal Nayak, Basanagowda Badarli, National Youth Congress immediate past president B. V. Srinivas, State Youth Congress president Manjunatha Gowda were present.
