"With Terrorists Or...": Karnataka Chief Minister's Binary For Congress On Mangaluru Blast

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday asked Congress chief M Mallikarjun Kharge and former presidents Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, whether they are "in favour of terrorists or patriots".

The Chief Minister was reacting to Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar's statement seemingly suggesting that the Mangaluru pressure cooker blast was "orchestrated" by the BJP government to divert attention away from the voter data theft scandal.

"Congress' policy is such that earlier too they have trivialised terror incidents and have supported terrorists. They had criticised the hanging of a terrorist. This is part of their appeasement strategy for elections. They feel that they will get minority votes with such statements, and have used the same old technique. But people are aware, such things won't work anymore," Bommai told reporters here.

"I want to ask Congress party -- Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi -- they should make it clear whether they are in favour of terrorists who disturb peace and order, or in favour of patriots who serve this country," he said.

Such "playful acts" and statements demoralises the country and its police forces, the Chief Minister further said, adding that "when terrorists are held with evidence, questioning the procedure and investigation will boost the morale of the terrorists."

Addressing a media interaction on Thursday, Shivakumar referring to the November 19 blast in Mangaluru said: "Who asked the director general of police to declare that it was a terrorist act without investigation? Who is the terrorist? Was it an act of terrorism like in Mumbai, Delhi, Kashmir or Pulwama?" His statement has elicited sharp reactions from the ruling BJP.

Pointing out that blast accused Mohammed Shariq had everything required to make a bomb inside a pressure cooker, which exploded and it was clear that the man had the intent to cause a blast in Mangaluru, Bommai said, "He (Shariq) had changed his identity multiple times. He was caught two-three times in earlier cases. It was established that he had known terror links, including overseas." For the Karnataka PCC president to say that it was a cover-up, doesn't befit his position, Bommai said.

Reacting to Shivakumar's claim that the Mangaluru blast was used by the BJP to divert attention away from the voter data theft scandal, the Chief Minister said it was the Congress government that gave orders to non-profit organisation Chilume Trust in 2017. "Shivakumar shouldn't forget this." "Congress has the habit of creating illegal votes. We will know clearly this time how many outsiders are there in which constituency. It is because the Election Commission is using new technology to identify double and triple votes," he said, adding that investigations are on in the case and arrests have been made.

Last month, the Congress had alleged that Chilume Trust, assigned by the Bengaluru civic agency to spread awareness among voters, collected details of the voters such as name, mother tongue, gender, religion, caste, voter ID number, and the Aadhaar number.

The Bengaluru city police, probing the case, have arrested the co-founder of Chilume Trust Krishnappa Ravikumar, the main accused.

Later speaking in Mandya, Chief Minister Bommai questioned Congress as to whether it was its policy to sympathise with terrorists, whenever terror acts took place.

He said, "Such things don't happen in any other country... here Congress politicises all issues. On the China border issue, they speak by demoralising our soldiers, they demoralise police here. This is not the way a national party should behave on the issue of national security. They have lost their mind with losing power," he added.

Bommai also noted that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is investigating the case, adding that, "they don't take cases just like that, they only take up cases linked to national security and terror-related ones".

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)