Bengaluru does not belong to "militants", it is ours, HD Kumaraswamy said (File)
Slamming BJP MP Tejasvi Surya over his recent comments that Bengaluru has become the "epicentre of terror activities", former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said the remark is a disgrace to the city, which "does not belong to militants".
The Janata Dal (Secular) leader further said that the statement was even an "insult to senior BJP leaders" and demanded an apology from the "concerned BJP leader".
"Some people having links with terrorist organisations were caught after the D J Halli incident. Our criticism must be against them... not the home of millions of people... Bengaluru does not belong to militants, it is ours... Bengaluru is our pride," Mr Kumaraswamy's tweet in Kannada read.
He was referring to an incident of mob violence on August 11 when over 3,000 people went on a rampage, torching the residences of Congress MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy and his sister Jayanthi, besides DJ Halli and KJ Halli police stations in Bengaluru.
Without naming the BJP leader, he added, "The insult made by some commentators within the BJP that Bengaluru is a centre of terror activities is a disgrace to the city. I saw in media how CM BS Yeddyurappa struggled to justify such a statement, during a press conference on Monday. This slanderous statement is an insult to the senior BJP leaders as well."
A day after becoming the president of the of BJP's youth wing on September 26, Surya had said that Bengaluru has become an epicentre of terror activities and that he has urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to set up a permanent division of the National Investigation Agency.
The statement drew sharp criticism from the Opposition. Earlier, Congress' DK Shivakumar had asked the BJP to sack him from his new post.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)